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V -^'-^..^^ -k^fA-. v./ M 



THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Parliamentary haw in Easy Chapters 



By 



FRANK WARREN HACKETT 



Thus janglen they and detnen and devise 

—THE SQUIERE'S TALE 



NEW YORK 

McCLURE, PHILLIPS ^ CO. 

M C M 



G3371 

I OCT 19 1900 

1 /> Copynght entry 

SECOND COPY, 

Dftlivertd to 

ORDER OIVlStON, 
OCT 25 



■ Hi5 



Copyright, 1900, by 
FRANK W. HACKETT 



0(- (,222 



1 



3n (glemott^ of 
^amuef ©ana |5<^rton 

(HARVARD 1864) 

Leader in Europe and America of the C«^wj^ of the / 

International Parity of Gd?/<^ and Silver \ 

These Pages 

That took 5'^^/)^ under the ^S^z/^ 

Of His Approval 

®te ®ffectionatefi? Jnecrifieb 



PREFACE 



rHE present is a period of public and private 
meetings. Not to speak of the many who are 
actually members of a legislative assembly, we 
observe that nearly every man zve know — and for the 
matter of that, woman, also — belongs to a society, of 
some sort or description, that has its by-laws, rules of 
order, and debates. One ought to feel positively thank- 
ful at possessing even an inkling of the mode whereby 
the proceedings of a meeting are conducted after a par- 
liamentary fashion. 

If, for the purpose of increasing a moderate stock of 
knowledge upon the subject, one resorts to manuals or 
treatises of the day — admirable as they are in many 
respects — it is only to come across a text that is dry, 
technical, and consequently unattractive. It has oc- 
curred to the zvriter that principles of parliamentary 
pracMce are capable of being treated so as to make a 
work interesting and entertaining^ no less than instruc- 
tive. In other zvords, that an experiment might be 
made to impart to the subject a literary form. I have 
tried to write a book that shall be readable; that shall 
engage the attention and sustain the interest of what is 
known as " the general reader." 

Legislative experience is not without its humorous 
incidents. These I have not hesitated to use, in order 
to keep the reader fairly zvell entertained. The treat- 



Z2=^ 



8 PREFACE 

ment, I feel sure, will nowhere he found lacking in 
seriousness. 

Let me add tJiat great pains have been taken to ren- 
der this work, unpretending as it is, a correct and rea- 
sonably complete guide to what is now the approved 
practice of our various legislative bodies, state and 
national. 

F. W. H. 

Craighfen 

New Castle, New Hampshire 

24 September, 1900 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Introductory : Of Meetings . . , .11 

II. How Meetings Get Under Way . . .15 

III. More About Meetings 21 

IV. A Legislature : How Composed . . -25 
V. More of Early Stages 29 

VI. The Sources of Parliamentary Law . . 35 

VII. Law-makers at Work . . . . .40 

VIII. Quorum 46 

IX. The Gavel and the Mace . . . .51 

X. Other Officials and What They Have to Do . 55 

XL Legislative Etiquette 62 

XII. How to Make a Motion 66 

XIIL Petitions 71 

XIV. More Petitions ; and Such Like . . . 76 

XV. Of Legislators Themselves . . = .82 

XVI. Subsidiary Motions 86 

XVIL Talk 90 

XVIII. Postponement ....... 96 

XIX. Laying on the Table . . . . .101 

XX. Commitment ....... 105 

XXI. Amendment iii 



10 CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

XXII. More About Amending . . . .117 

XXIII. Division 121 

XXIV. Privileged Questions 129 

XXV. A Talk About Privilege . . . .138 

XXVI. Orders of the Day 148 

XXVII. Order 154 

XXVIII. Reading Papers 160 

XXIX. Suspension of the Rules .... 163 

XXX. Debate 167 

XXXI. Debate— Continued 175 

XXXII. Something Else About Debate . . .181 

XXXIII. Debate— Concluded 186 

XXXIV. The Effect of Speeches . . . .197 
XXXV. Putting the Question 202 

XXXVI. The Yeas and Nays 210. 

XXXVII. A Point, or Two, About Voting . . 215 

XXXVIII. The Minority ...... 220 

XXXIX. Reconsideration 225 

XL. Committees — How Appointed . . . 230 

XLI. Committees — Their Functions . . . 234 

XLII. Committee of the Whole House . . 242 

XLIII. Conference Committees .... 248 

XLIV. The Calendar 252 

XLV. On Contempt 255 

XLVI. Adjourned Sine Die 259 



1 



THE GAVEL and THE MACE 



CHAPTER I 

introductory: of meetings 

started— like a guilty thing. 

—HAMLET. 

MAN is a gregarious animal. This 
much is settled. Man himself ad- 
mits it. Herbert Spencer has not 
denied it. Indeed, at this late day to shut 
our eyes to the fact would be simply futile. 
It is perhaps not too much to go farther 
and declare that no animal, when we strike 
an average right through the year, makes 
a more gregarious showing than man. 
* Examine man in the state of develop- 
ment now reached by him, and you will dis- 
cover a propensity, not to say a mania, on 
his part, for huddling together his fellow- 
men, and presiding over them. It will be 
seen, moreover, that this propensity knows 
no abatement, no postponement on ac- 
count of the weather. You shall find him 
ever ready, at a moment's notice, to lay 
aside business and borrow the use of the 
nearest telephone, in order to drum up 
neighbors and acquaintances, and lay them 
under promise to attend " the meeting." 



A nthropo- 
logical 



12 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Congenial 
talk 



Seems 
possessea 



* He likes it. The prospect of a gathering 
animates his spirit. The stir and bustle of 
a caucus suits him. In his eyes the post 
of delegate wears a halo of fascination. He 
spies out happiness in being named to serve 
upon a committee ; while it is joy outright 
to him to be elected to some office, or 
other, even though it carry with it not a 
cent of salary. To hear himself mentioned 
in a list of possible candidates is to experi- 
ence a glow of pleasure. Going home he 
imparts to his wife as a profound secret 
that they are talking of him for the nomi- 
nation. He smiles upon his offspring more 
benignly. The outlook keeps him for 
a while in the best of humor. Soothes 
him. 

* This same individual, when a boy at 
school, was never once suspected of endan- 
gering a blood-vessel in his efiforts to stand 
at the head of the class. But now that he 
has attained man's estate, he wants to stand 
at the head of a delegation ; to stand up 
somewhere and respectfully address the 
chair ; or, at the very least, to be toward the 
front where somebody else is doing it. He 
yearns to be identified with what is going 
on at the meeting, even if it be nothing 
more than to pass the hat. 

* A deep-seated craving in man, I repeat, 
is to get the floor, to get himself appointed 
on a committee; or, at any rate, to have 
his name put up so as to be voted upon in 



Introductory : Of Meetings 



13 



some lodge, club, or society. He feels un- 
comfortable until he has tried a hand at 
making a motion, acting as teller, or per- 
forming some similar part, by way of as- 
serting his manhood in the presence of his 
fellows. 

* These longings, to be sure, are in some 
instances gratified with a very simple ser- 
vice. There are aspirants whose careers 
have closed at an early stage of public per- 
formance, with entire satisfaction to them- 
selves. I have heard of an old gentleman 
who, in his younger days, had upon one 
occasion made a motion to adjourn, in the 
House of Representatives of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. He never forgot 
that day. His memory clung to it. Hail 
ing, I believe, from one of those amphibi 
ous localities down on the Cape, his occu 
pation was to follow the sea. Summer 
visitors in later years would report that 
when the discourse chanced to turn upon 
handling a vessel, Captain A. was modesty 
itself ; but it was his wont to steer the con 
versation into a channel that would permit 
him to allude in bluff and hearty tones to 
that memorable date when, by adjourning 
a session of the General Court, he, so to 
speak, brought to anchor the ship of State. 

* In view of the drift that human nature 
invariably takes, are we not justified in the 
assertion that the earth moves, and that 
man seconds the motion? 



14 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



* Citizens of the United States of America, 
among sundry guaranteed blessings have 
a constitutional right ^ to assemble peace- 
ably when and where they like, of course 
being liable at the common law for rent of 
the hall. 

1 Articles in addition to, and amendments of, the Constitution of 
the United States of America : Article I : Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office. 



I 



CHAPTER II 

HOW MEETINGS GET UNDER WAY 

/ -would by and by have so7ne speech with you. 

—MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 

WE shall assume that certain defi- 
nitions had best be laid down 
once for all, so that we can have 
a distinct idea of what it is that we are talk- 
ing about. Such was Daniel Webster's 
custom, after he had been tossed about for 
many days without an observation in thick 
weather, sir, upon an unknown sea. At 
least, Mr. Webster is reported as having re- 
marked as much to Colonel Robert Y. 
Hayne, of South Carolina, in 1830, while 
interchanging views with that distin- 
guished gentleman, in the Senate of the 
United States, in regard to the best method 
of carrying on the government. 
* To begin with, then, a public meeting 
may be defined as an assemblage of people 
brought together for the purpose of getting 
at an opinion upon a subject of local or 
of general concern, and of taking action 
thereon. Ostensibly a meeting deHber- 
ates. As a matter of fact, one or more 
managers are good enough to take in ad- 
vance the burden of deliberation upon their 
shoulders ; so that all that is left ordinarily 
for a meeting to do is, to ratify their con- 
15 



What a 
■meeting is 



i6 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Place atix 
dames 



Lots qf'ej 



''Mr. 
Moderator" 



elusions. Especially is this true of a con- 
vention called to nominate candidates for 
political office. The labor of determining 
what particular man the office shall seek 
has come to be known as " fixing the 
slate." 

In earlier and more degenerate days the 
duty of going to public meetings and listen- 
ing to speeches was left, like other hard- 
ships, to the men. But an era of reform 
has wrought its changes. No longer does 
lovely woman shrink from gracing the 
scene of public assemblies with her milli- 
nery and her radiant presence. She is to 
be seen on the platform and her voice, 
sometimes mingled with that of others, is 
heard carrying forward the discussion. 

* Of meetings there are divers kinds. 
They can, however, be conveniently divid- 
ed into two great classes, those where a 
collection is taken up ; and those where it 
is dispensed with. Upon the whole, the 
latter I should say hits the popular taste. 

* The town meeting (an institution warmly 
praised by writers who never go to one), 
will have a variety of topics under discus- 
sion ; such as, for instance, shall the town 
vote to repair the bridge? Or, how many 
feet of new hose ought to be purchased? 
and the like. Each question in turn re- 
quires a certain amount of talk from the 
more fluent among the assembled voters 
and taxpayers. 



p 



How Meetings Get Under Way 17 

* An indignation meeting is a gathering 
where people grow furious, and scold col- 
lectively, instead of its being left to the local 
editor, or to each individual, to boil his own 
pot of wrath. 

* A rally may be defined as a conglomera- 
tion of men and boys, brought together 
upon the eve of election, for the purpose of 
having their enthusiasm fired up by a 
stump speaker, who gets purple in the face 
while demonstrating how " our side " is 
going to save the country, in spite of the 
machinations of an unscrupulous opposi- 
tion, provided only that we succeed in get- 
ting out a full vote. At a rally, noise fig- 
ures largely as an element, alike on the 
rostrum and on the floor. 

* Before a meeting can proceed to transact 
business it must have an organization ; and, 
as a first step in this direction, it has to be 
called to order. 

* The hour named draws nigh. The hall is 
getting pretty well filled. Men, old and 
young, from varied walks of life have re- 
sponded to the summons. They elbow 
their way to the front, or stand in animated 
groups here and there. Anon we may 
detect three or four small boys creeping 
along, and suppressing with a fine sense of 
propriety their tendency to giggle. They 
steal furtive glances around, intent on giv- 
ing a wide berth to the solitary policeman 
on duty. Near the platform a knot of 



Outra. 

geous" 



Vote early/ 



1 



Begins 



Come one— 
come all! 



i8 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Order, 

gentlemen 



In embryo 



lookers-on are exchanging words. One 
of the number ostentatiously consults his 
watch. 

* More people stream in, and early comers 
have begun to wonder why their punctual- 
ity has not been rewarded by having the 
meeting opened. At this point, there en- 
ters a stoutly built gentleman, plainly ex- 
cited at the thought that he may be late, 
and much astonished to find that he is not. 
Taking off his hat, and nodding to an ac- 
quaintance, he lets himself become calmer, 
and then pressing forward settles down into 
a prominent seat in front. A buzz travels 
around, a sure sign that something is about 
to happen. The stir increases. , The ex- 
pectant throng, it is plain to see, are in a 
state of ferment. 

* At last there steps upon the platform 
briskly, as if not a second should be lost, a 
man evidently well known, who coming 
forward, hat in hand, presents a general 
aspect of having in his possession facts that 
he would be pleased to communicate. A 
lull ensues ; at least it should ensue. 

* He raps on the table, — this gentleman 
does, as a signal for quiet, as well as a hint 
that hats had best come off. Then he 
stands still for a moment, to watch the 
effect. 

* The raps executed on these occasions are 
usually moderate in tone ; but once in a 
while there appears an individual who does 



! 



How Meetings Get Under Way 19 

his rapping after a fashion that startles. 
Here is a somebody who means business. 
Mark him ! He has a career in prospect. 
If not already a leader in the community he 
is bound, if he Hves, to become one. Of 
such stuff is local greatness made. 

* Waiting till the ripples of excitement 
have died away, our pioneer friend delivers 
himself of an announcement, as follows : 
* " The hour having arrived for which 
this meeting has been called, gentlemen 
will please be seated, and come to order." 
If unable to check himself, it would be tol- 
erated, I suppose, were he to add half a 
dozen more words in the same general line 
of observation ; but the law says that a brief 
formula, substantially as here given, will 
answer. It has in fact answered for a great 
many years. 

* What would happen, should any one. Query 
upon this reasonable request, neglect or 
refuse to come to order, the books do not 
tell us. In newly settled regions, where a 
chairman in accepting the honors of the 
position lays his six-shooter in plain sight 
upon the table, as emblematic of official 
authority, the course likely to be pursued 
may easily be imagined. To the credit of 
mankind, it is to be observed, the unvaried 
custom has always been to seat one's self 
and come to order. Indeed the principle 
may be laid down as admitting of no ex- 
ception, that after a meeting shall have 



20 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



fl 



been called to order, it is unparliamentary 
for one to keep on making a noise, unless 
he furnish the noise in the shape of a 
speech. 



CHAPTER III 



MORE ABOUT MEETINGS 

Here we will sit. 

—MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

THE first and indeed the only duty of 
the temporary occupant of the chair, 
— for this gentleman occupies the 
chair in contemplation of law, though you 
never see him actually sitting in it, — is to 
have the proper steps taken to determine 
who the officers of the meeting shall be. 
The recipients of this distinction have al- 
ready been agreed upon, and the time-hon- 
ored method is for a committee of nom- 
ination to be appointed by the chair, upon 
a motion and vote to that effect. The com- 
mittee do the perfunctory work with due 
gravity. They retire and soon re-enter 
with a list of the names of those whom it 
would seem they have selected for the 
coveted positions. The names are read 
aloud, and being put to the question the 
entire number is, as a rule, voted in without 
a dissenting voice.^ 



1 It is characteristic of men thus brought together that they are 
disposed at the first send-off to be docile and tractable. They 
accept what is offered. Nevertheless the editor who has poUtical 
virtue in his keeping still continues to warn his subscribers against 
the wickedness of "the machine." Thus far, however, _" the 
machine " shows no signs of going out of fashion. Sometimes I 
wonder what we had better do about it. 

21 



22 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Knowledge 
-Js power 



IVhy is it ? 



* It is desirable that the gentleman chosen 
to act as chairman of the meeting should 
know how to preside. Should he prove 
deficient in this respect, he is likely to have 
an uncomfortable time of it; and what is 
more he will succeed in making everybody 
else uncomfortable. Not that a presiding 
officer must necessarily be steeped in the 
learning of the law parliamentary ; but he 
ought to be on easy terms with at least the 
rudiments. 

* Where the occasion is of a formal char- 
acter, custom lays hold upon it to lift into 
distinction above their fellows other per- 
sonages than the honorable chairman. 
There is a background to be filled ; and the 
spectator is favored with an imposing view 
of a picked number of gentlemen stowed 
away upon the platform, in solid pha- 
lanx, serenely important and ponderously 
pleased. These worthies are styled vice- 
presidents. 

* I am not aware that a specialist has ever 
applied himself to investigate into the why 
and wherefore of the vice-presidents. We 
are accustomed to take it for granted that 
they are an institution that comes along 
with a free government ; and therefore that 
a row of vice-presidents is essential to the 
carrying forward of proceedings in a meet- 
ing of the people. They remain a good 
deal of a mystery ; but there is no denying 
the fact that they constitute a system that 



^^. 



More About Meetings 



23 



has been firmly built in and rivetted to the 
fabric of our civilization. 

* The reader, however, must not be left to 
conjecture that every one upon the list of 
vice-presidents is put there merely as an 
ornamental appendage. Such is not the 
fact. An emergency may arise when the 
presiding officer can continue no longer to 
perform the duties of that office. Perhaps 
he has been intrusted with the door key un- 
der a promise not to miss the last train. 
He lives in the suburbs. There are fam- 
ilies who do. At such a juncture the chair- 
man beckons to the first vice-president, and 
withdraws quietly. The first vice-presi- 
dent takes the chair, with the appearance of 
a man coming into possession of his own. 
The countenance of the next vice-president 
brightens a little, while the business of the 
meeting goes ahead without perceptible 
jar. 

* Men no sooner organize themselves into 
a public meeting than the idea seizes them 
that the world outside is waiting to hear 
from them, through the medium of a set of 
resolutions. Accordingly a committee re- 
tires to prepare a preamble and the verbi- 
age that usually follows it. The meeting 
is conscious of a lonesome feeling, while 
they are gone. 

* Soon, however, these gentlemen solemn- 
ly file back again, bringing in as a result of 
their deliberation a paper aglow with senti- 



Ofuse 



24 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



ments that find vent, as likely as not, in 
sonorous phrase. It is so easy to resolve. 
The louder the resolutions ring, the better 
the meeting likes it; whether in terms of 
compliment or of denunciation, it is all one. 
The resolutions are spoken to ; and then 
passed. 

* Resolutions invariably provide that a 
copy shall be transmitted somewhere, for 
resolutions untransmitted are as harmless 
as heat lightning. The office of authenti- 
cating the copy, and seeing that it is sent 
off as directed, falls to the lot of the secre- 
tary. This officer records the action of the 
meeting. What becomes of the record af- 
ter he has prepared it, nobody seems to 
know. 



CHAPTER IV 



A legislature: how composed 

Let not, however, the ingenuous youth imagine, etc. 
—MR. JUSTICE STORY, 
in his Equity Jurisprudence, Section 1532. 

PASSING on to take our first look at 
a legislative assembly, we shall find it 
convenient to say a word upon the 
topic of the election of members, with par- 
ticular reference to personal qualifications ; 
and then we may go forward to consider 
some of the more important rules of pro- 
cedure. 

* The law parliamentary, I am obliged to 
confess, deserves not to be extolled for gal- 
lantry; since we discover that, when it 
comes to prescribe qualifications for a seat 
in a deliberative body, it includes the fair 
sex among those to be kept out, — the list 
being, minors, idiots, lunatics,^ paupers, 
women, and aliens. For what reason the 
law in its wisdom does not permit lovely 
woman to invade the legislative hall, and 
have her say there, I shall cautiously ab- 
stain from even venturing to guess. A ter- 
ritorial delegate in Congress finds himself 
but little better off than womankind — for 



A wkward- - 
very 



* The reader need not be reminded that convicts also are not 
eligible, it being thought suflBcient that they serve] the State in 
another capacity. 

25 



26 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



About this 
time expect. 



The hour— 
the man 



although he can talk, he cannot vote. Who 
may predict how much longer the other sex 
is going to let man keep to himself the 
honors and perils of a legislative career?^ 

* Legislatures meet at stated periods ; and it 
is the business of the member-elect to find 
out the precise date when his presence is 
needed at the seat of government. A few 
days before that fixed for the convening 
of the assembly sundry stray visitors, of 
serious mien, are to be observed alighting 
at the railroad station, and taking up their 
line of march, vaHse and umbrella in hand, 
to the Capitol. Your new member, alive 
to the responsibilities of the situation, is not 
going to let the country suffer from tardi- 
ness on his part. He knows full well what 
a burden it is to take charge of the public 
welfare. He is willing to try it. 

* When the momentous hour is at hand for 
the session to open, both floor and gallery 
present a scene of great animation. A 
crowd of spectators, including ladies in 
bright array, look on approvingly. Mem- 
bers bustle about, precisely as though a 
crisis had arrived. To the clerk of the last 
House there is usually assigned the duty of 
calHng the assembled throng to order ; but 
sometimes this honorable office is, as a 



> Possibly there is something prophetic in the words of Carlyle : 
" Nay, might there not be a Female Parliament, too. with screams 
from the opposition benches, and the honorable member borne out 
in hysterics." I. French Revolution, 302. 



[^ 



f 



A Legislature : How Composed 27 

mark of respect, entrusted to the oldest 
member present. The first thing to be 
done is to ascertain who are in attendance 
claiming to represent the sovereign will 
of the people as expressed through the 
medium of the ballot-box, aided by a well- 
organized machine. Inasmuch as success 
at the polls is a matter of notoriety, the task 
of preparing a roll of the names of mem- 
bers-elect, is comparatively simple. In the 
few instances where a seat is to be contest- 
ed, a certificate has already been given to 
some one, and for the purpose of organiza- 
tion this gentleman becomes clothed with 
a prima facie right to be recognized as the 
sitting member. 

* The roll of names is called. All that is re- 
quired of a member-elect upon hearing his 
name, is to speak up Hke a freeman, and 
answer " Here." Even if he does nothing 
else, this act on his part entitles him to a 
day's pay. After getting through with a 
calling of the roll, there is no more popular 
move to be started than that of adjourning 
for dinner. 

* Another step early to be taken is to in- 
spect the credentials of such persons as 
shall have presented themselves. This 
precaution is resorted to in order that no- 
body may meddle with legislative machin^ 
ery who has not been duly sent forward 
for the purpose. Every house constitutes 
itself a judge of the qualifications of its own 



Calling the 
roll 



Safeguard 



28 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

members. A good degree of circumspec- 
tion has to be exercised at the threshold ; 
otherwise who can tell what improper char- 
acters might effect an entrance, such as 
men addicted to the use of stimulants, out 
late nights,'^ and the like. 
* This business ended, the members in 
solemn array hold up their right hands and 
take the oath of office 



^ -^ 



CHAPTER V 



MORE OF EARLY STAGES 

/'// be a candle-holder^ and look on. 

—ROMEO AND JULIET. 

WHERE am I to sit, is a question 
that a member asks himself the 
first time he sets foot in the cham- 
ber destined to be the scene of his pubHc 
service. Our aspiring young friend, who 
has designs upon the eye of the Speaker, 
and who means upon every important oc 
casion to electrify the country with re^ 
marks, is not blind to the advantage of hav- 
ing a conspicuous spot from which to 
sparkle. A speech delivered about midway 
of the House, or well down to the front 
seems more effective than when your 
orator is forced to take his stand a long 
way off, at the outer fringe of seats. The 
average member feels that his talents en- 
title him to strive for the best seat he can 
lay hold of. It is a duty, too, which he 
owes to his constituents. Yet, after all, 
there is not much freedom of selection, since 
a distribution of seats is commonly made 
by lot. At the same time, new members 
are quick to discover that the able leaders 
are not to be banished to the region of the 
back rows. If you chance to be a new- 
comer, it may prove worth your while, to 
29 



30 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

assume an air of special importance. By 
so doing, you, perhaps, may, so far, impose 
upon some unsuspecting fellow-member, 
that he will consent to exchange for yours 
the better seat he has had the good luck to 
draw. 
Miscellaneous * A timc-houorcd usage of the House of 
Commons permits an old member to retain 
a seat which at former sessions he had been 
in the habit of occupying, — a deference to 
seniority that is not without example on 
this side of the Atlantic. 
* It is an estabHshed custom, in some 
bodies, for members of like political faith to 
sit together. This practice tends to divide 
the chamber in half, each party taking its 
own side, with due provision for those in 
excess who make up the majority. The 
plan is convenient. One obvious advan- 
tage is that opponents are thus enabled to 
glare at each other across the line of di- 
vision, commonly an aisle. Besides, mem- 
bers when fenced off, as it were, in this 
manner find it more feasible to carry on 
those hasty consultations upon the floor 
that are often needful during a political de- 
bate. Such arrangement works well so far 
as the two great parties are concerned, but 
occasionally a nondescript appears, under 
the name of independent, or reformer, 
whose presence threatens an upset, and 
who may be presumed to incur risk of con- 
tamination should he be required to pitch 



More of Early Stages 



31 



his tent in either camp. Since architectural 
Hmitations, as a rule, do not admit of his 
going off and sitting all by himself, the 
gentleman in question is compelled to 
make the best of a bad business, and take 
up with one or the other divisions of his 
misguided brethren, as the wheel of fortune 
shall have determined. 
* In accord with good, old, democratic 
notions, the furniture on the floor of the 
House is the same for all members. But 
there is one chair in the chamber that is 
much coveted. Not that it is more com- 
fortable than the rest, but because of the 
distinction that its occupancy implies. I 
refer, of course, to the chair set apart for 
the presiding officer to fill. One of the 
earliest inquiries to be answered is, who is 
the patriot that stands ready to sacrifice 
himself at the altar of his country, by con- 
senting to serve as Speaker. To settle this 
momentous question, it is customary for 
each political party to hold a caucus. The 
nominee of that party which happens to 
be in the ascendancy, is the coming man. 
The minority caucus contents itself with 
dealing in compHments instead of substan- 
tial favors. At an hour previously named, 
the House proceeds to ballot for Speaker, 
with the result seldom failing that the 
choice of the caucus is declared the choice 
of the House. As soon as a Speaker is 
elected, the House conceives it to be neces- 



The Speaker 



The rising 
tun 



32 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

sary that the recipient of its honors shall be 
conducted to the chair under an escort. 

* Whether satellites upon this impressive 
occasion are to be viewed as a body-guard, 
affording a member protection while en 
route from his seat to the chair which he is 
to adorn as presiding officer ; or whether 
the successful candidate is presumed, by a 
pleasing fiction, to be unaware of the pre- 
cise locality of the chair itself, it is perhaps 
hardly worth the while to speculate. Suf- 
fice it to say custom dictates the selection 
of two members (of whom the extinguished 
candidate of the minority is usually one), 
who march down the aisle in stately pro- 
cession, one on either side of the child of 
fortune, guarding jealously his sacred per- 
son until he reaches the desk and grasps the 
gavel. There he takes the oath of office, 
after which he is left to shift for himself. 

* As soon as the distinguished incumbent 
has arrived in position, and bowed his ac- 
knowledgments, he is expected to turn a 
radiant face first toward the reporters, and 
next to his brother members (not forget- 
ting a glance at the ladies in the gallery), 
and to favor the House with a few remarks, 
— the fewer the better. He can hardly 
avoid letting fall a word or two of thanks, 
in which he expresses, honestly, no doubt, 
a distrust of his fitness for the exacting 
duties of the post. He promises good be- 
haviour, and pledges himself to treat every- 



More of Early Stages 



33 



body in the handsomest manner possible. 
After all this is accomplished, he faces to 
the front, and standing as if about to have 
a camera flashed upon him, he seems to 
say : " Now, bring on your business." 

* The imposing ceremony over, everybody 
is agog to learn who are to be named as the 
standing committees. The Speaker ought 
to lose no time in getting ready his list, 
since legislation is at a standstill until com- 
mittees are announced. Of the nature of 
this duty, and its performance, something 
will be said in a later chapter of this in- 
genious work. 

* At the proper juncture in the opening 
hours of the session, the Executive sends 
in his message, which is read for the infor- 
mation of the body, and for the welfare of 
mankind. His Excellency reminds the 
legislature that time has gone on its flight ; 
and he pauses to congratulate the country 
that they and he are animated with patriotic 
purposes ; together with much more, in the 
same pleasing line of reflection. He re- 
cites what work he has done; goes on to 
tell them what remains to be done, and 
mentions a few reforms that he has the 
honor to recommend. He states how 
much money there is in the Treasury, and 
accounts for what is not there by a refer- 
ence to accompanying tables of figures ar- 
ranged after the order of official arithmetic, 
imposing and unintelligible. The message 



The King's 
speech 



34 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

alludes likewise to the State penitentiary ; 
and mentions by name one or two persons 
yet outside of it. 
How disposed"^ Not kuowiug what better to do with this 
^ mass of information, statistical and other- 

wise, legislative assemblies long ago con- 
tracted the habit of referring an executive 
message by piecemeal to appropriate com- 
mittees. The committees are supposed to 
digest what they thus get. At their leisure, 
they decide what of its recommendations 
they can most appropriately neglect. Cus- 
tom has ordained also that the document be 
printed for perusal by the members, and for 
circulation through the school districts. 
Thus does it go upon the shelf (or make its 
way sooner or later to the junk shop), as a 
part of the solid Hterature of the age. 



I 



CHAPTER VI 

THE SOURCES OF PARLIAMENTARY LAW - 

The House of Commons is a sort of whispering gallery to all 
Europe. 



THE Congress of the United States 
of America, as well as our State leg- 
islatures, when they have no special 
provision to cover the case, govern them- 
selves by a sort of parliamentary common 
law, an heirloom which, like that mass of 
mingled wisdom and absurdity, the com- 
mon law itself, has been handed down to 
us from Great Britain. " Parliaments," 
says that popular and entertaining writer, 
Sir William Blackstone, Knt., " are coeval 
with the kingdom itself." Seeing that Sir 
William's statement has appeared regularly 
in various revised and annotated editions 
of his standard work,^ we are safe, I pre- 
sume, in relying upon it as literally correct. 
At all events, one may detect in the parlia- 
mentary style of doing business at the pres- 
ent day, a pleasing flavor of antiquity. 
* There are rows of books labelled " Han- 
sard's Parliamentary Debates," that are 
packed full of solid reading matter, war- 
ranted to keep in any climate. We may 



1 Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. 
35 



A library in 
itself 



Definitions 



36 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

not overlook our Annals of Congress, The 
Congressional Debates and Congressional 
Globe, or its peerless successor, The Con- 
gressional Record. A complete outfit of 
the Record^ with the Index thereto, neatly 
bound, would make, I should imagine, in 
the absence of anything better, an appro- 
priate and beautiful holiday gift. Oda 
volumes of these several works can be 
picked up at the second-hand bookstores ; 
though the man who picks The Congres- 
sional Record up, soon puts it down again. 

* Decisions of presiding officers, I may 
here as well as anywhere remark, become 
precedents, just as do those of judges in 
courts of law. 

The sense of an assembly is expressed by 
a resolution, an order, or a vote. A resolu- 
tion may be defined as a flourish of trum- 
pets, put into words. For example: Re- 
solved, That we are a great people ; Resolved, 
That we point with pride . . ; Re- 
solved, That we arraign the party of the op- 
position ; we denounce, etc., etc. 

* While the term " vote " may be applied in 
general to a result reached by the decision 
of an assembly, it designates also the proc- 
ess of expressing the will of each individual. 
The expression itself of the will is likewise 
a vote. I cite to this point a definition that 
I am confident must be correct, for I came 
across it only a day or two ago, in a calf- 
bound law-book, that once belonged to 



The Sources of Parliamentary Law 37 



Charles O'Conor, years ago the distin- 
guished head of the New York bar: 
'' Vote: The will of a member of a body, 
formally manifested towards the decision 
of a question by the body, is his vote." 

* Getting at a vote consists in nothing 
more nor less than submitting a proposi- 
tion to the members of the assembly, to ac- 
cept or reject, as they shall see fit. The 
course pursued is somewhat as follows : 
Those who support it make speeches, 
wherein they prove not only that an af- 
firmative action will secure untold advan- 
tages ; but that, if it be not taken, all sorts 
of disasters are morally certain to ensue. 
The view entertained by their opponents is 
different. Bringing to bear the artillery of 
irresistible logic the gentlemen on the other 
side startle themselves, if no one else, by 
disclosing what awful results will follow the 
adoption of the measure. The dearest 
rights of the people are seen to be in im- 
minent danger, and every lover of his coun- 
try is implored to rescue that country from 
the doom to which the madness of the op- 
position is fast hurrying her. The elo- 
quence, I should judge, upon an average 
will be about as lurid on one side as on the 
other. 

* Then the bill passes ; or, it fails to pass 
The sun, with a careless indifference, rises 
and sets as theretofore, in compliance with 
figures tabulated for it at the Nautical Al- 



The -way it 
is done 



Also, what 
doesn't 



38 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

manac Office. The pastime of alternately 
praising a bill, and of going into hysterics 
over it, is called " debate," of which more 
anon. 

* The majority of an assembly is expected 
to bear the responsibility, and consequently 
has the greater portion of the work to do. 
It is to the party of the majority that the 
country looks for the results of legislation, 
a fact that its members are not likely to for- 
get from any omission on the part of the 
other side to remind them of it. 

* A minority is free to take the floor, and 
deal out denunciation in the loudest of 
tones. Indeed, at the last extremity, ex- 
cept where positively forbidden by the 
rules, they can fly to certain dilatory mo- 
tions, the use of which is known as " fili- 
bustering." Sometimes by a frequent call 
of the yeas and nays, a minority may stave 
off action, and by consuming time kill the 
bill. In some assemblies a small number 
of fluent talkers can " talk a bill to death." 
When a final vote is reached, a minority 
may expire decently " in the last ditch " by 
entering a protest upon the pages of the 
journal. This portentous act, however, is 
reserved usually for dire emergencies. 

* We learn from experience that time 
works changes in public opinion, so that 
the Httle handful of to-day, who have the 
courage to stand firm against the many, 
may perhaps come before long to be looked 



The Sources of Parliamentary Law 39 



upon as a faithful few, who were wise above 
their brethren. Where all that a man asks 
is, that he may have his name recorded as 
appealing to the future for vindication, it is 
so slight a labor for the clerk, and con- 
sumes so little of the public stationery, that 
it were almost cruel to say him nay. 



CHAPTER VII 



Launching 

bills 



LAW-MAKERS AT WORK 

Since ive cannot attain to greatness^ let us have our revenge by 
railing at it. 

—MONTAIGNE. 

THE object for which citizens are in- 
duced to leave their respective call- 
ings, and bring their wits together 
as law-makers is (aside from drawing the 
salaries), to transact public business. They 
construct the statutes. Almost every mem- 
ber is impressed with an idea that he must 
figure as the champion of some measure or 
other during the session, else those who 
voted for him will suspect that he is not the 
statesman they had taken him for. As a 
result, legislation may be described as a 
bellows that is never let alone for blowing ; 
since legislators think nothing of having 
numerous irons in the fire in the shape of 
bills and resolutions of various descrip- 
tions. 

* To present a bill demands little more of 
a member than to wait till the hour arrives 
when the introduction of bills is in order. 
Then, rising in his place, he is to address 
the Chair, mentioning the bill by its title. 
It is not incumbent upon him to indicate 
where the Chair is, by pointing a forefinger 
in that direction. Men have succeeded in 
40 



I 



Law-makers at Work 



41 



going right through public life, in at one 
end and out at the other, without once 
adopting this expedient for catching the 
eye of a presiding officer. The moment a 
page detects that a member who is getting 
up has a bill in hand, he glides thither, and 
taking the paper, conveys it quickly to the 
clerk's desk; where that official receives it, 
and casts an eye over it, preparatory if need 
be to reading aloud the title.^ 

* Because a member introduces a bill, it 
does not follow that he is its author. By 
asking, however, the reference of a bill to 
a committee, a member assumes a fatherly 
care over its fortunes ; he is held to approve 
of the legislation which it proposes. Still, 
it sometimes occurs that a gentleman may 
be willing to present a bill, and yet not be 
disposed to take upon himself the respon- 
sibility of endorsing it; in which event it 
is his privilege to explain that " by re- 
quest " he introduces the bill. In so say- 
ing he leaves his hearers at liberty to regard 
it much as if it had been left, so to speak, 
upon the doorstep of the House, to be 
taken in, out of charity. 

* Not so, however, when a member means 
to pledge to a bill his hearty support. Here 
a certain animation of tone and manner an- 



1 In the House of Representatives at Washington time is now- 
saved by not offering petitions, bills, and resolutions in the open 
House ; they are delivered to the Speaker, or, if of a private nature, 
to the clerk. 



The putative 
father 



Knight 1-, 



42 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Drafting 
bills 



nounces plainly that a champion has en- 
tered the lists. Perhaps his advocacy may 
come to be so ardent and persistent, that 
the measure gets to be known as his bill. 
At rare intervals in the history of legisla- 
tion, it is the fortune of a bill, or motion, to 
leap to the front rank of importance, carry- 
ing along with it the name of its sponsor; 
as, Foote's Resolutions ; The Wilmot Pro- 
viso ; or, The PHmsoll Act. 
* What with the capacity for invention that 
marks our people, and the energy displayed 
in the line of material development, it seems 
a pity that American genius has not as yet 
invented a machine for drafting bills, pub- 
lic and private. Such a contrivance would 
save a vast amount of tedious work, now 
done by hand. The volume of bills manu- 
factured annually in this country is im- 
mense. At the National Capitol, and at 
every State House one sees bills and bills 
pouring in ; bills upon every conceivable 
subject under the sun ; and bills for the re- 
lief of all sorts of people, or their heirs. 
Looking at results from a statistical point 
of view, it seems really as though the peo- 
ple of the United States are favored year 
by year with a greater crop of bills than 
they need for current consumption. The 
attention of the Department of State can- 
not be invited too urgently to the impor- 
tance of taking steps for cultivating friend- 
ly relations with unsuspecting countries, 



Law -makers at Work 



43 



at distant parts of the globe, such as by the 
adroit wording of a treaty might be obliged 
to take of¥ our hands a portion of this sur- 
plus product. 

* No one accustomed to behold a member 
at work with official harness on, would 
dream of holding him responsible as the 
author and perpetrator of all the bills that 
he introduces. As a rule, senators and 
representatives do not draft bills. Outsid- 
ers do the work. Were members them- 
selves to undertake to draft bills, they 
would soon find out that they had no time 
left to run of errands for constituents, or to 
look after their own re-election. Parties 
wanting legislation are expected to call up- 
on the honorable member with a bill al- 
ready put into shape. 

* Sometimes, such is the mysterious nature 
of the workings of the human mind, there 
are more men in their seats who want to 
talk than there are of those who are anx- 
ious to listen. When an array of gentle- 
men rise at the same moment, and vocifer- 
ate in concert, it becomes the instant duty 
of the presiding officer to quell the gale. 
He will see to it that all sit down again. 
His efforts to this end will consist largely 
of vigorous rappings, done with a hammer 
furnished for the purpose at the public ex- 
pense. As soon as the Chair becomes mas- 
ter of the situation, he will decide who shall 
have the floor. 



Too busy 



44 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A vjay out 



Recognition 



* There exists in Parliament a custom of 
awarding precedence, at such a juncture, 
to a new member, who as yet has not 
spoken. To do so may open the door to 
fresh talent. It has the effect, at any rate, 
to prevent new members from getting dis- 
couraged. In the United States no such 
tender consideration has been thought 
necessary; and a new hand at the business 
is let alone to take his chances with the 
rest. 

* A member secures the floor, then, by ris- 
ing in his place and addressing the occu- 
pant of the Chair as " Mr. Speaker," or 
" Mr. Chairman," or " Mr. President," as 
the appropriate title may be. 

* Chairs are in such common use at the 
present day, that in one sense every person 
who occupies a chair is a chairman, unless 
it be a chair-woman. It was not thus in 
early times. A chair was a scarce article ; 
and it was thought to be well enough that 
so long as the single individual on whom 
was conferred the honor of presiding over 
the assembly, could have at his disposal a 
piece of furniture of this description, the 
rest of the company might be left to stand 
up. The House of Lords (the members of 
which for decorum and good behavior will 
compare very favorably with the United 
States Senate, at No. i Pennsylvania Ave- 
nue, Washington, District of Columbia), is 
kept in the path of rectitude by a bewigged 



Law-makers at IVork 



45 



gentleman called the Lord High Chancel- 
lor, who sits solemnly on the woolsack/ 
sustained by a salary, of a great many 
pounds, together with sundry perquisites. 
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Brit- 
ain is pensioned off in his old age, so that 
altogether he is to be considered as having 
come into an uncommonly good situation. 
The place, I hear, is much sought after. 
* The presiding officer of the lower House, 
alike of Congress and of State Legislatures, 
is termed the Speaker; of the upper, the 
President; whereas in the House of Lords 
a peer addresses himself directly to the 
whole body, and says, " My Lords." 



I So named from its inventor, Cardinal Woolsack. 



Terminology 



CHAPTER VIII 



The British 
Lion 



QUORUM 

Ay^ arid rato-lorum, too. 

—MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 

WHERE a meeting assembles for 
the first time, there is no need 
that any particular number of 
persons shall be present, before the meet- 
ing is called to order. But in cas'es where 
an organization is designed to be per- 
manent, and meetings are to occur at suc- 
cessive intervals, it is usual to fix upon a 
certain number of members who must be 
present in order to constitute a quorum. 
This is done by a by-law, or rule ; if the 
number be not fixed by positive rule, the 
law steps in and says that for a quorum a 
majority of the whole number of members 
is necessary. 

* The House of Lords have established a 
rule that three of their Lordships shall con- 
stitute a quorum, while in order to proceed 
with business in the House of Commons, 
forty members must be present. 

Six hundred and seventy of Her Ma- 
jesty's loyal subjects are privileged to write 
after their signatures the honorable initials, 
M. P." Such is the numerical strength 
of the Commons. The visitor at Westmin- 
ster, however, who peeps over the gallery 
46 



i 



^orum 



M 



rail, with a becoming awe, and beholds 
rows of heads beneath, filled with wisdom, 
must not be disturbed should his count of 
the noble Britons that adorn the benches, 
fail to reach the handsome number of six 
hundred and seventy. To the glory of the 
British Constitution be it said, by a simple 
device of allowing forty good men and true 
to keep the wheels in motion, a gracious re- 
lief is afforded the remnant of six hundred 
and thirty members, each one of whom 
may for a brief season feel at liberty to turn 
elsewhere to duties of an engrossing char- 
acter, in the assurance that m.eanwhile the 
country will pursue its career as usual, and 
the immortal principles of Magna Charta 
be kept unimpaired — at least for a day or 
two until they can get back to their seats. 

* The Constitution of the United States 
provides that a majority of each house shall JS^i^f^"^'"^ 
constitute a quorum to do business ; but a /^>«^ 
smaller number may adjourn from day to 
day, and may be authorized to compel the 
attendance of absent members, in such 
manner and under such penalties as each 
house may provide. This language, or its 
equivalent, is to be found in the constitu- 
tions of nearly every State. 

* As we look around through the States 
and Territories constituting this happy re- 
public, we observe everywhere a disinclina- 
tion to let a minority lord it over their more 
numerous fellows. A minority may pos- 






Beating the 
toni-totn 



48 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



''I thank 
you. No" 



sess all the wisdom ; the '' better element " 
may be there — to a man — but the others 
have the votes ; and it is the greater vote 
that passes a bill. This doctrine, sound as 
it is, our friends of the minority are dis- 
posed at times to ignore. The moment a 
political party has been relegated by popu- 
lar vote to a minority in the legislature, that 
moment it begins to manifest intense solici- 
tude for the Constitution. It sounds the 
alarm. It sends forth the solemn warning 
that to the minority the people must look 
for the preservation of their liberties. In 
its zeal to save the country from impending 
destruction, it assumes that a misguided 
and headstrong majority cannot by any 
possibility be right; hence that a gallant 
minority must step to the front and shape 
legislation, or else stop proceedings until 
its advice is heeded, and its views substan- 
tially adopted. 

* Now it happens that under our theory of 
government the people hold the majority 
responsible for enacting laws, or for a fail- 
ure to enact them. Upon adjournment of 
the legislature, the party of the majority 
must render an account of stewardship, 
whereas to the minority is left the easy of- 
fice of proving how much better things 
would have come to pass had only they 
been in power. It is usual for the dom- 
inant party under a sense of such a respon- 
sibiHty, to conduct business according to 



^^ 



^m 



49 



their own interpretation of the rules, pay- 
ing attention at least to what their brethren 
of the minority may have to say, but de^ 
dining to yield to dictation. Such is the 
ever-recurring contention between the 
" outs " and the " ins." A minority talks 
and fulminates; the majority acts, while it 
is left for the people to pass judgment on 
the result. 

* The rights and wrongs of a minority is 
a topic of more than ordinary interest. 
With the leave of my reader, I shall take 
occasion to revert to it in a subsequent 
chapter. 

* A useful fiction prevails in legislative 
circles to the effect that under ordinary cir- 
cumstances a quorum will be presumed to 
exist, so long as nobody says a word to the 
contrary. The truth is, much routine busi- 
ness is dispatched under what really 
amounts to unanimous consent. The 
question is put in the usual manner, no- 
body cares to object, and the Speaker de- 
clares that the ayes have it, whereas perhaps 
not a single voice has responded. When 
objection is raised, however, that a quorum 
is not present, the Speaker must look sharp 
to ascertain what the fact may be, though 
up to that moment he has viewed with un- 
concern the circumstance that a mere hand- 
ful of members are transacting business. 
Should it become necessary, in order to 
create a quorum, for the Speaker to include 



Lack of a 
quorum 



50 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

himself in the count, he has a right, indeed 
it is his duty, so to do. 
* Upon principle, there would seem to be 
no doubt that the visible presence of the 
fleshly tabernacle of a legislator in his seat 
in the House impHes necessarily that the 
legislator himself is present officially for 
the purpose of being counted to make up 
a quorum. To argue that an able-bodied 
representative may be present in person, 
yet must be regarded as theoretically ab- 
sent, is to introduce a metaphysical subtlety 
of a character that plain matter-of-fact peo- 
ple are not disposed to relish. Yet at one 
time just such a doctrine prevailed in Con- 
gress ; and it had grown to be a custom for 
members to sit in their seats, and decline 
to answer to their names upon roll-call ; 
whereupon they were considered to be ab- 
sent. This curious usage at last became 
the means in the hands of a minority of 
obstructing seriously the public business. 
Speaker Reed put an end to it. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

By the by, what a capital article of furniture an arm-chair is, 
and above all, how cotzvenient to a thoughtful man. 

—A JOURNEY AROUND MY ROOM. 

AMONG the sayings attributed to 
the first Napoleon is the famous 
maxim : " Every French soldier 
carries in his knapsack the baton of a mar- 
shal of France." To declare of every 
member of a legislature that he brings in 
his valise the gavel of a presiding officer, is 
to put the case strongly. There is no tell- 
ing though when the honor may arrive of 
being asked to take the chair; for while 
there is but one Mr. Speaker, it often hap- 
pens that a member is called temporarily to 
preside, or to act as chairman in a commit- 
tee of the whole. 

* My fellow-countrymen, therefore, nat- 
urally want to know what are the principal 
duties of the Speaker, so as to be prepared 
against all possible emergencies. They 
may be summed up briefly as follows : 
^ To take the chair, and call members to 
order. To announce in proper succession 
the various matters of business coming 
before the House for consideration. To 
hear motions stated, and submit to the 



What h£ Jias 
to do 



52 THE GAVEL AND TIjE MACE 



A Busy r, 



House such as deserve recognition. To 
put the vote, when tired of waiting longer ; 
and to announce the result of the vote. To 
use the symbol of the State, in the shape of 
a gavel, or hammer, wherewith to rap 
members to order. 

* As a last resort for this purpose Great 
Britain arms the Speaker of her House of 
Commons with a mace, built of solid silver, 
and reputed to be a terrible weapon at close 
quarters. Our House of Representatives 
at Washington has adopted a like emblem 
of parliamentary authority. The American 
mace also is a formidable affair. It may 
be described as a bundle of ebony rods, 
bound with bands of silver, and bearing at 
the top a silver globe, on which perches the 
national eagle, in the act of spreading his 
wings. Following the custom of Parlia- 
ment this mighty utensil is brought in, and 
set upon a pedestal at the right hand of 
the Speaker, when the House assembles. 
When the House goes into committee of 
the whole, the mace is removed. At a sea- 
son of hubbub and commotion the spectacle 
of the sergeant-at-arms seizing the majestic 
implement, at the order of the Speaker, and 
starting up the aisle en route for an of- 
fender, is designed to strike the beholder 
with unspeakable awe. 

* His further duties are to receive messages 
from the outside world, and deliver them to 
the assembly. To affix his signature to 



The Gavel and the Mace 



53 



bills that the House shall have passed. 
This by way of authentication, like the 
name blown upon the bottle, to prevent 
counterfeits. In general he is to act as the 
mouth-piece of the assembly — its chief 
spokesman. This officer was early called 
" The Speaker " in the House of Com- 
mons, for with true Anglo-Saxon grit he 
spoke up and let the King and the Lords 
know what the Commons would have him 
say. Lastly, it may be added, in a word, 
that it is the duty of the Speaker to see that 
the rules of the House are not infringed, a 
duty that demands prompt action; and ad- 
mits of no delay, debate, shufifling, or tem 
porizing. 

* According to the authority of the " Lex 
Parliamentaria," the Speaker ought to be 
" religious, honest, grave, wise, faithful, and 
secrete." This is the reason why there is 
no lack of men ready to step into the office. 

* With its cumbering cares, the Chair is not 
without privileges. To begin with, the pay 
of a Speaker is better. He is shown to a 
front seat at public ceremonies, and is made 
a good deal of. Moreover, should he de- 
sire to vacate the chair for a while, he can 
hand over the honor temporarily to such 
member as he chooses, who presides pro 
tem. The Speaker relapses thereupon into 
the status of an ordinary member, except 
that his salary keeps running on at the 
higher rate. 



Must be up 
tQ standard 



Privileges 



54 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

* A presiding officer may read sitting, but 
to state a motion he must stand. Repre- 
senting as he does the whole House, and 
not the majority merely, he will be careful 
to avoid leaning to either side. 



CHAPTER X 



OTHER OFFICIALS AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO 

DO 

Enter on my list of friends. 

-THE TASK. 

ANOTHER functionary of impor- 
tance in legislative work is the clerk. 
This officer is expected to display 
the cardinal virtues. He should possess 
good looks, w^ear good clothes, evince good 
nature, have a good memory, and write a 
good hand. The clerk's business is to keep 
a record of what the assembly does. Not 
only has he no occasion to record speeches 
that never have been delivered, but he is 
not expected even to take minutes of par- 
ticular men's speeches at all. It is v^-hat 
the House does, not what it says, that he is 
to look after. 

* The clerk reads such papers as the House 
may wish to hear; or, rather, that the 
House pretends that it wishes to hear; for 
few attend nowadays in the slightest de- 
gree to the reading of a bill, except pos- 
sibly the member who has introduced it. 

* The roll of members is called by the 
clerk, who puts a mark against absentees. 
To the clerk is committed the custody of 
papers and documents, in addition to the 
journal of proceedings, all of which he is 

55 



Trippingly 
on tJte 
tongtte 



56 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A siafiding 
rule 



The majesty 
of the law 



paid a monthly salary for watching with a 
jealous eye. The charge of the table is 
likewise entrusted to this official; and, in- 
asmuch as a great many bills and motions 
in the course of a protracted session are 
laid upon the table, it is a task of no small 
difficulty to keep it in order. The clerk, as 
well as the presiding officer, authenticates 
bills that have passed the House. 

* The clerk should stand when reading, or 
when calling the roll of the assembly. He 
ought to be affable towards the members, 
and quick to produce a pigeon-holed paper 
when called upon suddenly. The clerk 
has a deputy officer appointed to assist him 
in the performance of his many arduous 
duties. 

* We observe next that there is the ser- 
geant-at-arms, a sort of sheriff, or con- 
stable, on whom rests the duty of carrying 
into effect the orders of the assembly. This 
functionary acts as a police officer to pre- 
serve order. In a crisis of disorder, as 
stated already, he wields the mace. He it 
is who sternly clears the gallery when, in 
spite of warning from the Speaker, its oc- 
cupants continue to be demonstrative. 
The sergeant-at-arms is sent after members 
who are playing truant. He serves proc- 
esses and summons witnesses. He has the 
pleasure of arresting such offenders as the 
assembly shall direct to be taken into cus- 
tody. These culprits he shuts up, nor does 






Other Officials 



57 



he let them out until he is told officially so 
to do. 

* From time immemorial it has been the 
custom for legislative bodies to elect a 
chaplain. Upon the duties of this officer I 
need not enlarge. In Massachusetts, for- 
merly, it was the usage of the General 
Court to march in a body, upon the first 
day of the session, to a church, or meeting- 
house, and listen to an election sermon. 
The theory is, that a few hours of this sort 
of thing does the legislature good. They 
are managing now, however, to get along 
without it. 

* An indispensable appendage to an assem- 
bly and a busy official is its printer. They 
put him under solemn oath not to divulge 
the contents of such papers and documents 
entrusted to his care as are designed to be 
kept secret. The precaution of an uplifted 
hand is taken because of a fear that having 
once been of the newspaper fraternity, the 
printer from force of habit might convert 
official material into sensational dispatches 
in order to appease the pubhc. It is the 
printer who is responsible for the issue 
of those bulky and indigestible volumes 
known as " Pub. Docs." He is supposed 
to read them through in proof. Thus we 
see that no walk in life is free from trials. 

* The people of the United States like to 
feel themselves in touch with the great men 
whom they have sent to transact business 



The Chaplain 



Ink and type 



The 

Postmaster 



Doorkeeper 



58 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

for them at Washington. That a repre- 
sentative in Congress finds time, amid the 
pressure of great national duties, to send 
into his district through the mail, a public 
document, or a package of seeds, is proof 
positive that his heart still beats true to 
principle. The United States Senate and 
the House of Representatives each has its 
postmaster, who deals with an immense 
quantity of mail matter. There is assigned 
to these officials a room, in the respective 
wings of the Capitol, fitted up for all the 
world like a real post-office, with rows of 
boxes, having glass fronts, neatly num- 
bered. Here the postmaster, withdrawn 
from public gaze, can read the newspaper, 
or sit and talk politics, while his assistants 
sort the mail, hasten off the huge bags, and 
perform post-office work generally. Any 
free-born American citizen has the priv- 
ilege of dropping a letter into either of 
these post-offices at the Capitol, and of hav- 
ing it duly transmitted, provided it be ad- 
dressed legibly and has its northeast corner 
adorned with a suitable stamp. 
* A legislative assembly can ill afford to 
keep an inefficient servant at the door. 
The doorkeeper has many duties to dis- 
charge which, though they seem to be sim- 
ple enough, require a high degree of 
promptness and energy. It is his business 
to stand guard over the entrances, and 
maintain a sharp lookout that no intruder 



w 



Other Officials 



59 



manages to slip in; it being necessary to 
frown with official severity upon colpor- 
teurs, mendicants, life-insurance agents, 
small boys, reformers, railroad presidents ; 
in fine, upon suspicious characters of what- 
soever description. He also has to be ex- 
tremely vigilant to recognize members of 
the third house in good standing, so as not 
to mistake them for mere outsiders. De- 
pend upon it, an incumbent of the genuine 
stamp has to have his wits about him. The 
ideal doorkeeper possesses the urbanity of 
a hotel-clerk, combined with the firmness 
of a newly appointed street-car conductor. 
I once saw such a man. He is dead.^ 
* Nor should we omit the official reporters. 
Certain important bodies (Parliament and 
the Houses of Congress, for example) em- 
ploy stenographic reporters, to take down 
in shorthand what is uttered upon the floor 
Whether this be worth the pains or not, the 
work itself is at times a signal triumph of 
human skill and ingenuity. In the House 
of Representatives at Washington there are 
occasions when debate waxes warm, fierce 
and furious, members storming at each 
other, all talking at one and the same time. 



1 It has passed into history that an appointee from a Southern 
State as a doorkeeper of the House of Representatives, at Wash- 
ington, after being confronted with a week's experience, unbosomed 
himself in a letter to friends at home to the effect that he was " a 
bigger man than Old Grant." At that particular time "Old 
Grant" was living at the White House, attending cabinet meetings, 
approving biUs, and otherwise hammering away at the public busi- 
ness, as the Eighteenth President of the United States. 



" Wag-alP' 



6o THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Our friends 
of the press 



regardless of rules, or of the rapping of the 
Speaker's gavel. Words are hurled to and 
fro, whizzing by each other in a perfect 
cyclone. Where the blast grows most 
tempestuous, indeed at the very storm-cen- 
tre, can be discovered one of the faithful 
corps of stenographers, his nimble pencil 
filling page after page of his note-book, los- 
ing not so much as one elegant expression, 
and giving to each remark its own author, 
by name. Though interruptions from 
every corner of the chamber come thick 
and fast, the alert reporter must work on, 
creating column after column of intelligible 
speech out of a chaos of jargon, and of dis- 
located sentences. The marvel is that he 
loses not so much as a punctuation point. 
Posterity gets it all.^ 

* There is " a sweet little cherub that sits 
up aloft," who likely enough may be mis- 
taken for one of the officials of the assem- 
bly. He is a journalist, and his vocation it 
is to skim over the surface of events. His 
trained ear catches here and there a some- 
thing that, after slight embellishment, will 
suit the local market ; and away over the 



On one occasion the House met at ten o'clock in the forenoon, 
and the session did not close until seven o'clock of the next morn- 
ing. During all this time things were going on at the liveliest rate; 
a tumult of debate was surging ; questions and quickly parried in- 
terruptions, were boiling over from every part of the hall. And yet 
thirty minutes after adjournment, the MS. was in the hands of the 
Congressional printer. When the House met again that day at 
noon, a full verbatim report, printed in the Record, was lying upon 
every member's desk. 



Other Officials 



6i 



wires it goes in the shape of a " special.' 
A good fellow is this same quill-driver 
He makes it his business to be on speaking 
terms with everybody ; he keeps quiet oc- 
casionally, and is precisely the young man 
that a member who means to succeed in 
public life, wants to keep on the right side 
of. In fact, your experienced news re- 
porter understands members better than 
they understand themselves.* 
* There are sundry minor officials that busy 
themselves beneath the dome of a capitol 
who are not to be left out of our inventory. 
Bright, nimble lads who act as pages ; mes- 
sengers and janitors — men who sweep out, 
and build the fires; the restaurant-keeper, 
and others. All have their humble yet 
useful parts to play in the great drama of 
legislation. 

1 Newspaper reporting is a product of evolution. We read that 
in 1694 one Dyer who had presumed to report the Parliamentary de- 
bates in his " News Letter." was brought to the bar of the House 
of Commons, and upon his knees was reprimanded by Mr. Speaker 
for his great presumption. It was resolved " That no news letter- 
writers do in their letters or other papers that they disperse presume 
to intermeddle with the debate or any other proceedings of this 
House." Bamett Smith, Vol. II., page 50. At a later period, when 
reporting was winked at, the reporter still had a hard time of it. 
Of William WoodfaU (known as "Memory WoodfaU") it is re- 
corded that he would stand at the bar of the^House of Lords all 
night, or sit on a back bench in the gaUery of the House of Com- 
mons, with no refreshment but a hard-boiled egg, and reproduce a 
whole debate, without having taken a note. Ibid., page 604. 



A few more 



CHAPTER XI 



hitercourse 

between 

members 



LEGISLATIVE ETIQUETTE 

A very proper man. 

-MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 

IN the preceding chapter an attempt was 
made to describe the offices with which 
a legislative assembly usually equips it- 
self. It now becomes appropriate to direct 
the reader's attention to the members 
themselves, with a view of ascertaining 
what they have to do, and how they are ex- 
pected to behave while performing legis- 
lative functions. 

It is manifestly of prime importance that 
one who enters the halls of legislation for 
the first time should acquaint himself with 
the rules of deportment there chiefly in 
vogue. 

* There are sundry little amenities with 
which one desires to become familiar. For 
instance, it is not deemed proper, in the 
course of debate, for members to refer to 
each other by name. Such a practice 
might lead to personalities. Instead, there- 
fore, of alluding to remarks as having been 
made by Mr. Smith, or Mr. Jones, the 
member who means to be en regie will 
designate the individual he has in mind by 
a periphrasis of some kind. He may say, 
'' The honorable gentleman who has just 
62 



Legislative Etiquette 



63 



taken his seat " ; or, " My distinguished 
friend over there in the corner " ; or, " The 
eloquent orator who so ably represents 
Libertyville on this floor." There is a neat 
and happy way of putting these things, and 
one cannot too early set about acquiring it. 

* Where a member is charged with com- a formality 
mitting a breach of decorum, his attention 

is invited to the subject by the presiding 
officer in a few well-chosen remarks, after 
which the offender is permitted an oppor- 
tunity to offer an explanation, should he 
happen to have one on hand. Old stagers 
know how to explain things away in short 
order. The standard method is to assume 
an air of contrition, and observe, in a sub- 
dued tone, that " no man's intention could 
have been better than mine," or that " the 
honorable gentleman, I deeply regret to 
learn, has w^holly misapprehended the pur- 
port of my remarks." A word or two of 
apology, after some such formula as this, 
will commonly end the matter. 

* An offence, however, may be really grave. The -way of 
The assembly then requires something ^^^,„^^^^^^ 
more to repair its injured dignity than mere 
apology. It concludes upon the whole, 
that justice will be satisfied by inflicting a 
reprimand. The " painful duty " of ad- 
ministering the reprimand falls to the pre- 
siding officer. The culprit (who, if the 
truth were known, may very likely trace his 
downfall to an early neglect of pious in- 



64 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Expulsion 



Figure of 

speech. 

Poetry 



struction, learning to smoke behind the 
barn, and the like) is admonished to stand 
in his usual place, to receive the censure of 
the House ; whereas a guilty party, who is 
not a member, is brought to the bar of the 
House by the sergeant-at-arms. 

* Extreme cases of disorderly behavior 
justify the House in imposing the penalty 
of expulsion. In Congress, to administer 
so severe a punishment requires, under the 
Constitution, the concurrence of two- 
thirds of the House. It is a penalty rarely 
inflicted. A member on the point of be- 
ing expelled does not feel like staying any 
longer. The place has grown monotonous. 
His system craves a change. The farm, or 
the family at home, allures him. It occurs 
to him that matters and things there need 
looking after. The miserable being gazes 
around him pensively upon scenes to which 
he is about to bid a choking farewell. In 
circumstances such as these it is not un- 
manly to exhibit emotion, nor unparlia- 
mentary. He exhibits it. Then he col- 
lects his presence of mind, his papers and 
documents (not overlooking such public 
stationery as may be within reach) and 
withdraws noiselessly. 

* He is ofif. The ripple caused by his de- 
parture fades away. The clatter starts up 
again ; and business jogs along as before. 
So soon are we forgotten, when we are not 
remembered. 



Legislative Etiquette 65 

" Like the dew on the mountain, 
Like the foam on the river; 
Like the bubble on the fountain, 
Thou art gone, and forever." 

Forever indeed; unless the outcast should 
be chosen again, expulsion not being a 
personal disqualification, save when made 
so specially by law. The Commons in the 
case of John Wilkes, who was expelled and 
thereupon re-elected, decided that Mr. 
Wilkes could not be seated. Junius has 
been kind enough to favor us with his 
views upon this transaction. He speaks of 
it as unfair.^ 

1 p. S. Explanation is due to the reader that, up to the hour of 
our going to press, it has not transpired who Junius really was. 
Even the Encyclopaedia Britannica (last edition) does not know for 
a certainty. 



CHAPTER XII 

HOW TO MAKE A MOTION 

Let us then be up" and doing. 

—PSALM OF LIFE. 

IT must have fallen under the reader's 
observation that there is a critical order 
of mind which shrinks from going for- 
ward unless first given a definition to cling 
to. For the encouragement of persons 
whose mental organizations are of this de- 
scription, I would submit the following ex- 
tract from my note-book. " Motion : A 
proposition made to an assembly by a 
member that the assembly do something, 
or order something to be done, or express 
an opinion with regard to some matter or 
thing." ^ 

1 It may gratify some of us at this stage to welcome a familiar 
acquaintance in the shape of the following " anecdote," which has 
of late been making its regular round of travel through the press. 
Who can tell what a debt American Hterature owes to the " small 
town in Western Texas " ; and will continue to owe, until the genius 
of invention shall think it time to remove the basis of operations to 
a locality still further off. 

A citizen of Seguin, a small town in Western Texas, was elected 
justice of the peace, and the only law-book that he had was 
"Cushing's Manual." The first case before him was that of a 
cowboy for stealing a steer. When the case was called the leading 
lawyer of the town was there to defend the prisoner. " As there is 
no counsel for the other side," he said, " I make a motion that the 
case be dismissed." The justice looked over his manual. "Amo- 
tion has to be seconded," he said. " I second the motion," promptly 
responded the prisoner. "The motion has been seconded that the 
case be dismissed," said the court ; "all in favor will say aye." The 
prisoner and his attorney voted " aye." " All opposed will say no.'' 
Nobody voted. "The motion is carried and the case is dismissed," 
repeated the court, " A motion to adjourn is now in order." The 
prisoner made the motion, and the court adjourned to a saloon in 
the vicinity. 

66 



How to Make a Motion 



67 



* The right to submit a proposition be-|G?v^ 
longs to all members alike. There can be ,'E?"'^ ' 
no monopoly of motion-making. On the 
opening day of the session, however, onej 

or two gentlemen, of apparent conse- 
quence, are apt so far to forget this truth 
as to take upon themselves the entire bur- 
den of starting the public business. The 
delusion they are under seldom lasts 
longer than twenty-four hours. | 

* Doctor Samuel Johnson, who figures Literary 
so conspicuously in Boswell's world-re- 
nowned biography, has left behind him 
a rich legacy of remarks, and among 
them may be cited the following celebrated 
couplet : 

" How small, of all that human hearts endure, 
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure." 

The justness of the observation, I presume, 
will scarcely be questioned. Yet there is a 
class in the community, by no means small 
in number, who think otherwise, including, 
I am bound to say, many individuals who 
manage to get themselves chosen to seats 
in the legislature. 

* Holding fast to the philosophy of the 
great Doctor's lines, let us turn for a mo- 
ment to the consideration of motions in 
general. A motion to carry out a proposi- 
tion is styled a principal motion. When a 
motion is designed to dispose of a principal 



68 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



In black and 
•white 



motion, it is termed a secondary or sub- 
sidiary motion. A principal motion should 
be expressed in writing, whereas a sub- 
sidiary motion may be orally made. Thus 
it is unnecessary, we perceive, to reduce to 
writing a motion to adjourn. 

* Unless the language of a principal mo- 
tion or resolution be reduced to writing, an 
assembly would talk away with no concep- 
tion of what it all might be about. Noth- 
ing would be at issue. A proposed motion 
has to be committed to a form of words in 
order to furnish a " text," as it were, and 
keep members within reasonable limits of 
debate. Similarly, an amendment seeking 
to change the language of a principal mo- 
tion, ought itself to be submitted in writ- 
ing. The motion to amend is an exception 
to the general rule, that secondary motions 
need not be written. 

* A member who proposes to submit a 
motion should take pains to write legibly, 
unless he can get a clerk at the desk to put 
the wording into shape. The law favors a 
liberal distribution among the members, of 
pens, ink, paper, erasers, and lead-pencils, 
thus implying a capacity on the part of 
every legislator to write. But a repre- 
sentative of the people is not precluded 
from exercising the constitutional privilege 
of introducing a principal motion, or reso- 
lution, simply because he happens to be an 
indifferent penman, or backward in the art 



p 



How to Make a Motion 



69 



of spelling. I avail myself of this oppor- 
tunity, however, to remind coming genera- 
tions that a statesman will stand higher in 
public repute, if he follows precedent when 
he spells, and if he evinces a disposition to 
conform to good usage in the matter of 
grammar. Plain words will do. For ex- 
ample, you wish to provide that a sum of 
money be voted as a gratuity ; you can say 
" give " ; you are not compelled to use the 
term " donate." 

* Commentators upon the law parliamen- 
tary agree that, in order to make a motion, 
a member must rise in his place, and re- 
spectfully address the Chair. In Congress, 
a member may get the floor, even if he 
rises from a seat belonging to another 
member, more attention being paid to who 
he is, than to where he is. The require- 
ment that a member shall rise in his place 
before addressing the presiding officer, is 
founded in convenience. It might be dif- 
ficult for the Chair to make out who is the 
individual that proposes to enlighten his 
fellows, unless an accustomed locahty can 
be counted on to help determine it. In the 
French Assembly, a deputy goes to a raised 
platform or rostrum, in the front of the 
chamber, and there speaks his piece. The 
rostrum is so arranged that the orator can 
execute in safety those gesticulations that 
play so prominent a part in the Gallic 
method of conveying ideas. 



On his legs 



70 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Seconding 
motions 



* After a motion has been read, it should 
be seconded with promptitude. By this is 
meant that a member, other than the 
mover, should address the chair with the 
phrase '' I second the motion," or its equiv- 
alent. No mystery about it. A new- 
comer can acquire in twenty-four hours the 
art of seconding motions. Under pressure 
of business, strict formality may be dis- 
pensed with. The Chair inquires '' Is the 
motion seconded? " and upon a member re- 
plying without rising in his place that he 
seconds it, the Chair puts the motion. Of 
late years it has not been the practice of 
either branch of Congress to require a mo- 
tion to be seconded. Some legislative 
bodies, and nearly all public meetings, 
however, still adhere to the old custom. 



CHAPTER XIII 



PETITIONS 

So that every mor'taZ's complaint, if it cannot get redressed, may 
at least hear itself complain. 

— CARLYLE'S FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

WE have just observed how simple 
is the method by which a member 
puts himself into communication 
vdth the House. We have seen that a 
gentleman who has something to say (or 
imagines that he has) rises in his place, if 
he cannot longer keep quiet, and addresses 
the Chair, whereupon the Chair introduces 
him to the assembly. The Chair is by no 
means so familiar as to mention the name 
with which the gentleman walks the street, 
or registers at a hotel, or signs his bank 
checks. The Chair designates him po- 
litico-geographically, as it were, and in- 
forms the assembly that the gentleman 
from this or that town, or district, or (in 
the Senate) the Senator from such a State, 
naming it, has the floor. 
* The great talkers of a legislative body 
quickly discover themselves. There is a 
school of orators who are forever coming 
to the front to let the country hear from 
them ; and they can be depended upon to 
start early in the session upon the work of 
enlightenment. After a while, let one of 
71 



72 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



We, the 
undersigned 



A ntigue 



these gentry get the floor for a sustained 
speech, and his opening sentence is a signal 
for a concerted movement into the lobby. 

* Occasionally the spectacle is afforded of 
a new-fledged statesman who conceives the 
outside public to be so very far outside that 
he need put himself to no trouble whatever 
about consulting their wishes. It does not 
take long for him to learn a little wisdom. 
He discovers that where his constituents 
have a grievance which they think a good 
deal of, they are apt to draw up a petition, 
and send it forward to him to present. The 
incident sets him on a train of thought, and 
he concludes that the subject of petitions is 
worthy of his distinguished and oft-repeat- 
ed meditation. 

* Now, if there be a relic connected with 
parliamentary doings, that deserves the 
epithet of '' moss-grown," it is the right of 
petition. Like the " pursuit of happiness " 
(a privilege which most of us enjoy without 
being aware of it), it is a right that dates 
from a long way back ; and it is venerated 
accordingly. Moreover it is a " sacred " 
right. There are petitions in the Tower of 
London of the date of Edward the First. 
So says Sir Erskine May, and I presume 
that his statement can be relied on ; since 
he had probably seen the documents with 
his own eyes. That the people shall be 
free to put ink to paper in the form of a 
petition, is an Anglo-Saxon idea. The 



Petitions 



73 



forefathers brought it over with them in the 
Mayflower, a circumstance that accounts 
for the prominence given to the right of 
petition in our State constitutions. 
* The objective point of a petition is, that 
those who sign it, wish to have the legis- 
lature do something. Or, as Grey puts it, 
with no waste of words : " A petition 
prays something. A remonstrance has no 
prayer." The strict rule of the law is, that 
it is beneath the dignity of a parHamentary 
body to receive a paper from the outside, 
which expresses opposition to a pending 
act, and does not pray or ask that the same 
be defeated. If the paper be in effect a 
protest, in the shape of a petition, or 
prayer, it is treated as unobjectionable. 
Though such be the nice distinction upheld 
by the learned text-writers, it does not ap- 
pear that our legislatures have paid any 
considerable degree of attention to such a 
refinement ; it being the custom throughout 
the United States to receive every kind of 
petition, if it be respectful in tone, and if 
from the chirography it can be made out 
that the document has reached the address 
intended. 

"^ There is more or less erudition in the 
books as to how a petition shall be pre- 
pared, on what substance written, how 
signed, and the like. In England, peti- 
tions must be written on parchment or 
paper; lithographed or printed petitions 



What Grey 
thmks 



How gotten 



74 



THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Neat, not 
gaudy 



Personally 
conducted 



will not be taken in. In America it has not 
occurred to us to enforce so strict a rule. 
In our plain way, we act upon the sugges- 
tion that printing will answer well enough ; 
and in fact, when it comes to reading, we 
rather prefer print. So far as I have had 
opportunity to look into the matter, I find 
that this more liberal view has not proved 
too great a strain for our institutions. The 
fact is, petitions spring up with such exu- 
berance in our soil, that life seems too short 
for us to stop and peruse them, much less 
to enquire into their mode of preparation. 
There should be no erasures or interlinea- 
tions in a petition, unless they are explained 
on the face of the paper. Everything must 
be fair and above-board. If a petition 
consists of several sheets, each sheet should 
bear at least one signature, to prevent de- 
ception. The signatures must be the genu- 
ine article, and must belong where they are 
found. Should a gentleman happen to be 
not at home with the pen, he will be per- 
mitted to ornament the document by affix- 
ing thereto his mark, which should be duly 
attested. 

* Where one can present himself before a 
committee in propria persona, he stands a 
better chance of having his wishes com- 
plied with, and of getting something done, 
than if he appear by petition merely. In 
the earlier days of the republic people hav- 
ing business before Congress preferred to 



Petitions 



75 



send their names, rather than to come in 
person, like the Gauls^ to the Capitol, to 
hear the cackling. All this is changed 
now. So admirable are the accommoda- 
tions at Washington, that men glib of 
speech are employed at every incoming 
train, to greet the traveller and tell him 
what can be done for him ; electric-cars, 
cabs, and district messenger-boys are 
numerous ; while accomplished guides to 
the Capitol are so affluent of information 
that no true American can afford to stay 
away. The petitioner may send forward 
his petition, and then come on himself by 
a later train. If he would learn how Con- 
gress seems to be impressed thereby, the 
proper course to pursue is to buy an ex- 
cursion ticket and start at the advertised 
time. When he has arrived and " fixed 
up," he can make his way to the great 
white-marble building upon Capitol Hill, 
and tell the doorkeeper, in a husky whisper, 
that he is here on business. The usage is 
to send in his visiting-card to the member 
from his Congressional district. When 
the honorable member comes out, it is eti- 
quette to let him shake hands warmly. He 
(petitioner) can consume the best part of 
several days in waiting to see about it (peti- 
tion) and then he can go home. This is 
one of the many inestimable blessings to 
which we, who are trying the experiment 
of living under a popular form of govern- 
ment, are entitled. 



CHAPTER XIV 



// ts all 

right 



MORE OF petitions; and such like 

They know not -well tJie subtle ways 
I keep, and pass and come again. 

—EMERSON. 

AS has been already said, a peti- 
tion should be respectfully worded.^ 
Fair words, it is true, butter no 
parsnips ; but for all that a petitioner will 
not be likely to accomplish much, if he fail 
to show due deference to the honorable 
body he is addressing. It will not answer 
to apply opprobrious epithets to legislators 
in the document that craves their gracious 
intervention. So long as the language of 
a petition be respectful, it is no objection 
that it provokes a smile. When the im- 
mortal three tailors of Tooley Street sent 
their prayers to Parliament headed : " We, 
the people of England," they got laughed 
at all over the Kingdom, but none the less 
was the document taken in at Westminster, 
and put on file. 

* The member to whom a petition has been 
entrusted should by all means look it over 
so as to familiarize himself with its con- 
tents. This precaution is absolutely need- 



' An intelligent jury not long since sent in a letter from their room 
to the Court, beginning : "To the Onard Jug." This was respect- 
ful, but not happy. 

76 



More of Petitions ; and Such Like 7 7 

ful. The gentleman who offers a petition, 
acting, so to speak, as its sponsor, is held 
to vouch for its being expressed in fit lan- 
guage, and in a tone of due respect. More- 
over, he is thus enabled to state briefly the 
nature of the paper, when presenting it, and 
to reply to any questions that its introduc- 
tion may evoke. 

* A member who is about to present a peti- 
tion rises in his place at the proper moment, 
with the document in his hand ; it is not 
material in which hand. After stating 
what the petition is, he moves that it be ac- 
cepted. Ordinarily no one objects ; indeed, 
as a matter of fact, petitions are commonly 
received without a motion, or vote to that 
effect.^ In the House of Representatives 
a member presents a private petition by 
silently depositing it in a box at the clerk's 
desk, whence it is taken and referred by the 
clerk to its proper committee. 

* What becomes of petitions ? Numbered 
by the thousand, it is hard telling where 
they eventually go. According to the 
rules, the paper with its weight of sig- 
natures is handed to the clerk, who is popu- 
larly supposed to read aloud its contents in 
an impressive tone for the edification of the 
listening assembly. Only the clerk does 

J Time was when the indomitable John Quincy Adams could 
throw Congress into an uproar, by standing in his place, and hold- 
ing up a paper that looked like a petition. But with the wiping out 
of the institution of slavery, there has passed away every trace of a 
disposition to abridge the " sacred right of petition." 



Introducing 



What will he 
do "with it? 



78 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



nothing of the sort. He glances at the 
paper, sees what it is, and tosses it on the 
desk, for an assistant to mark and file away. 
The assistant clerk enters a memorandum, 
and then tickets it for the committee to 
which it properly belongs. Then he sends 
it to the clerk of that committee, who 
straightway makes a memorandum on his 
books and tucks away the petition snugly 
in the committee's files, for whatever use 
the future may have in store for it. With 
rare exceptions the carefully prepared 
document slumbers for a period more or 
less long. What happens to it few ask, 
and nobody seems to know; though as 
throwing some light upon the question, I 
might venture to suggest that while life is 
notoriously short, official life is even 
shorter. 

* Let a m.otion once get fairly on its way, 
and the man who makes it may wish he had 
not started it; but it is too late. So long 
as a motion has not been stated by the 
Chair, it may be said to belong to the per- 
son making it. He may amend it, or even 
withdraw it, if he choose, for the seconder 
not objecting to such disposition is pre- 
sumed to favor it. In Congress, one who 
makes a motion may withdraw it at any 
time before a vote ; but this is not the nor- 
mal rule of parliamentary law. Ordinarily 
when the Chair has stated a motion it be- 
comes the property of the House. The 



More of Petitions; and Such Like 79 



mover, his heirs, executors, administrators 
and assigns, lose all right, title, and owner- 
ship in and to it. A member who values 
his reputation will move therefore with dis- 
cretion and caution, like the elephant in the 
summer season about to cross a country 
bridge/ 

"^ The man who moves a resolution has a 
perfect right to vote against its adoption. 
It may not look well for him to do so. Sud- 
den conversion may seem unaccountable ; 
but if the legislator chooses to take the step, 
the law will uphold him. In order that 
they who make our laws may exercise en- 
tire freedom of action, there is presumed to 
exist, up to the latest moment, an opportu- 
nity for a change of opinion. The idea is, 
that a member shall have the chance to see 
in full force any error of judgment into 
which he may have inadvertently fallen. 
The law recognizes the fact that the human 
mind is not infallible, even when it takes up 
its temporary home in a legislator. Hence 
the law views with composure a disposition 
of that mind to tremble in the balance. 
Again, instances are not infrequent where 
a member who has introduced a measure 
simply to please a constituent, retains a 
purpose of voting when the time shall 



mover's 
privilege 



1 By the way, the youngster who waited six hours, and going off 
in despair, missed the passing circus by just ten and a quarter 
minutes, was known ever afterward as "the boy who ahnost saw 
the elephant." 



■ 



8o THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



What a 
mover 
cannot do 



come, so as to please himself. Or, in the 
press of public business it may have oc- 
curred that our representative is at a loss to 
recall upon which side of the measure 
he started. Perplexities innumerable sur- 
round these gentlemen, particularly when 
a long session is drawing to a close, and 
when whatever is to be done has to be done 
quickly. 

* That historic disturber, John Wilkes, 
while hobnobbing once with His Majesty 
George III., remarked to his royal listener 
that, as for himself, he '' was never much 
of a Wilkesite." The political world has 
not yet, that I know of, witnessed the spec- 
tacle of an agitator going about the coun- 
try stumping against himself. Still, now 
we come to think of it, we shall find no pos- 
itive rule of law forbidding such a crusade. 
Let a man, however, be sent to Washington 
to participate in the business of getting out 
a new volume of the United States Statutes 
at Large, and he will discover that after he 
has taken the floor and submitted a prop- 
osition to his colleagues, he will not be 
permitted to treat that proposition in a 
manner so cavalierly as to argue against it. 
Should a member of Congress make a mo- 
tion, and then launch forth to speak against 
it, he would find himself quickly tongue- 
tied, if I mistake not, by a decision record- 
ed years ago in one of the back numbers 
of The Congressional Globe. The mover 



More of Petitions ; and Such Like 8 1 

of a resolution may withdraw it, or he may 
even vote against it; the arguments of his 
associates may have converted him, but it 
is not permitted him to debate in opposi- 
tion. Under the dome of the Capitol, one 
may not in the same breath blow hot and 
cold. 

* As soon as a motion is brought regularly Read/or 
before the assembly, it is incumbent on the 'V^^'"^^''^* 
presiding officer to state it, so that every- 
body, even occupants of the back seats, 
may be afforded an opportunity to know 
precisely what the question is. The clerk 
will read the motion distinctly, if it be in 
writing; or, if it be oral, the presiding 
officer will state it. By a rule of the House 
of Representatives, every motion made to 
the House, and entertained by the Speaker, 
shall be reduced to writing, on the demand 
of any member. The member who asks to 
have a motion read for his information may 
not be able as a matter of fact to gather 
much information after having carefully 
listened, but the law says that he at least 
shall have a chance to try the experiment. 



CHAPTER XV 



OF LEGISLATORS THEMSELVES 



WJiere village statesmen talked, with looks profound. 

-THE DESERTED VILLAGE. 



P! 



ROBABLY there is not a voting pre- 
cinct in the land that cannot furnish 
the man who carries in his breast a 
conviction that he would shine conspicu- 
ously upon the floor of House or Senate, if 
his fellow-citizens would only put into his 
hands the credentials to get there. Strange 
that local talent should be overlooked so 
regularly ; talent to which is joined a whole- 
souled, unselfish devotion to the interests 
of the people. Ready as this individual is 
to surrender the comforts of private life, to 
lay aside business afifairs, and let his cred- 
itors one and all wait while he takes up the 
burden of serving the state, it does seem 
singular that the other man gets the nom- 
ination. The coveted honor goes else- 
where. The office in seeking the man 
passes right by that particular individual 
who is prepared to start at short notice ; 
and yet the man himself cherishes some- 
how a hope. Though blighted, he looks 
forward to a next time. 
* But let us not give way to pensive reflec- 
tions. It is with the gentleman whom the 
caucus names, and whom the voters elect, 

82 



Of Legislators Themselves 



83 



that we now have to do. The other aspir- 
ant may still rise to a point of order in his 
own family. For him there is the enjoy- 
ment of delights in private life to which his 
rival after all must remain, at least for the 
time being, a stranger. The truth is, he 
who stays at home is better off nine times 
out of ten than he imiagines. This must be 
so, otherwise we would not hear our public 
men talking with such ardor of the day that 
is to witness their return to the walks of 
private Hfe. Let us confine our attention, 
however, at present to the lucky winner of 
what is popularly imagined to be a prize. 

* If nothing else remained after a motion 
had been made, but to vote and have done 
with it, any man over twenty-one years of 
age, and of intelligence enough to sign a 
receipt for his pay, might be sworn in to 
earn the salary. But legislation involves 
more than this. i\Ien of acute minds and 
of first-rate abilities have been known to 
devote years to a study of its leading prin- 
ciples. In order to start a measure along 
the desired course, one must possess tact, 
courage, self-control. One needs a prac- 
tised eye that can watch for the arrival of 
the favored moment, and a steady nerve to 
set the ball a moving. 

* I have som.ewhere read that to bring a 
horse to water is easy. The proposition 
implies, of course, that you have a horse ; 
that he is alive, and that there is no drought 



One-horse 

illustration 



THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



in the neighborhood. But, and this is the 
point, to introduce this well-known bever- 
age into that horse's system, is a feat, 
whose accomplishment depends more upon 
the horse's inclination than your own. 
Now, I never owned a horse in my life, 
though he is an animal for whom I have 
always entertained a profound respect ; and 
yet I am disposed to let myself accede to 
the statement as substantially correct. To 
apply this valuable truth to the modus oper- 
andi of law-making, I may be permitted to 
observe that you will find it no great un- 
dertaking to ofifer your resolution, but to 
induce your fellow-members to fall into 
line and vote for it, is quite another matter. 
By evincing neither obstinacy, nor too 
great readiness to surrender your ground, 
you should meet all objections with min- 
gled good humor and firmness. If your 
bill be shorn of some of the features upon 
which you had prided yourself, and should 
it take on others that you do not particu- 
larly like, you will at least have succeeded 
in saving much that is essential. The out- 
come illustrates a not uncommon experi- 
ence where *' half a loaf is better than no 
bread." That you may readily apprehend 
what course to pursue upon these occa- 
sions, it is the province of the law parlia- 
mentary to enlighten and advise. That is 
what Hatsell and Jefferson aim at ; what 
May and Gushing aim at, and what the 



Of Legislators Themselves 



85 



present writer aims at — every one of us. 

" Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy 

country's." 

* I am not aware that I need offer further 

remarks upon this glittering theme. 



CHAPTER XVI 



Their 

province 



SUBSIDIARY MOTIONS 

Behold, tny son, with how little wisdom the world is governed. 
— OXENSTIERN. 

OUR modest little treatise has now 
reached the stage where it becomes 
appropriate to deal with a class of 
motions known as subsidiary, or secondary 
motions. Not that these motions are of 
subsidiary or secondary importance. On 
the contrary, so prominent is the part they 
play in legislative proceedings, that they 
deserve scrupulous attention from all who 
would attain standing as parliamentarians. 
Let us for a few moments contemplate the 
nature of these motions, and the methods 
of their appHcation in the actual conduct of 
business. 

* As I had the pleasure of remarking to the 
artless reader, in a recent chapter, the 
province of a subsidiary motion is to make 
disposition of a pending principal motion. 
Such being the case, the reader conjectures 
naturally that during a session of average 
length, a great many subsidiary motions 
must be made. It is my duty to announce 
that his conjecture is eminently correct. 
There are. The moment that an assembly 
consents to entertain a principal motion, 
there occurs to the mind of the vigilant and 

86 



n 



Subsidiary Motions 



87 



astute guardian of the public interests (that 
means the mind of nearly everybody pres- 
ent, who is not absorbed in some other mat- 
ter) a query, what shall be done with it? 
Shall I vote for this measure in the shape 
it now wears? Or, shall we have the 
phraseology^ changed a little, and im- 
proved? Or, had we not better defer a 
consideration of the subject until some day 
of next week? Or, why not put a quietus 
on the whole thing by laying it upon the 
table, along with sundry other bills and 
resolutions, to be taken up or not, at some 
distant period, as the wisdom of the House 
shall dictate? 

* These questions, and numerous others of 
like import, crovv^d in upon the legislative 
brain, and keep our senators and repre 
sentatives on the stir. Such are the prob 
lems these gentlemen are elected to grapple 
with, — are paid to solve. So tremendous 
is the strain at times, that we cease to won- 
der when we hear of the Honorable Mr. A., 
or the Honorable Mr. B., sitting up to play 
poker until half-past two in the morning. 
Their systems need relaxation. It is dan- 
gerous to hold the mind too long upon the 
stretch. Hence we see how fortunate is the 
man who, from his mastery of the subject 
has at his fingers' ends these various sec- 
ondary motions, and the fine points they 
imply. Thus equipped, he is, as the poet 
beautifully observes, a *' host in himself." 



The 

legislator's 

brain 



88 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A word to 
the youn^ 



What may 
not be 



Here a copy of " The Gavel and the Mace " 
comes in handy. 

Secondary motions are not many in num- 
ber. Every young man v^ho secretly cher- 
ishes the hope that some day he may be 
fillings vacancies in the post-offices, vetoing 
bills, and laying corner-stones, in the ca- 
pacity of chief magistrate of this great re- 
public, might make a worse beginning than 
to commit the list to memory. It can eas- 
ily be mastered in a couple of evenings. 
As the years roll by, he may not get further 
than a seat in the city council ; but I can 
assure him that the knowledge he has ac- 
quired will not go for naught. These mo- 
tions are: i, Lay on the table; 2, The 
Previous question ; 3, Postponement, either 
indefinite, or to a day certain ; 4, Commit- 
ment ; and 5, Amendment. 

* A fundamental rule in parliamentary 
practice is, that secondary or subsidiary 
motions cannot be appHed, one to the other. 
To this rule there is no exception, save that 
a motion to commit, or to amend, or to 
postpone, may itself be amended. This is 
one of those simple propositions that de- 
serves to be treasured in memory; for no 
man is likely to become truly great in the 
halls of legislation, who is constantly vio- 
lating the principle herein contained, never 
mind how telling a speech he can make 
when out on the stump. 

* In disposing of a principal motion, not a 



Subsidiary Motions 



89 



few assemblies now adhere to what has long 
been a rule of the House of Representatives 
at Washington. That rule provides that 
when a question is under consideration, no 
motion shall be received, but to adjourn, to 
lay on the table, for the previous question, 
to postpone to a day certain, to commit, or 
amend, or to postpone indefinitely. These 
several motions take precedence in the or- 
der enumerated. 

* Where a member finds that the rule of 
the House to which he belongs reads after 
this style, he will govern himself accord- 
ingly. The clerk, or the doorkeeper, or 
somebody on the premises will furnish him 
with a copy of the manual, and he can turn 
to the proper place, and find out precisely 
how the rule is worded. If, however, he 
is anxious to keep on the safe side, all that 
he has to do is to refrain from making any 
motion whatever, and then the presiding 
officer will have no opportunity to rule a 
motion of his out of order. 



A custom sf 
the House 



Advice 
gratis 



CHAPTER XVII 



The 

Ancients and 
the P. Q. 



How it 
came about 



Neighbors, you are tedious, 

-MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 

IN cases where a proposition laid before 
an assembly upon motion appears to 
meet with scant favor, the remedy lies 
close at hand. The proposition may be 
disposed of by an indefinite postponement. 
When it happens, as it frequently does, that 
a measure is sure of commanding the sup- 
port of every member, and discussion 
would be but a waste of time, the previous 
question, for the purpose of bringing on an 
immediate vote, will be found to be exactly 
what is wanted. 

* Like the mariner's compass, the rinder- 
pest, and a large per cent, of the special 
telegrams of our daily newspapers, the 
previous question is of purely modern in- 
vention. The dark ages, it seems, had to 
get along as best they could without it. 

* The earliest mention made of the pre- 
vious question, we believe, is in England, 
where it seems to have proved convenient 
for putting a stop to discussions that in- 
volved the behavior of the royal family ; or 
the conduct of the ministry, who felt sen- 
sitive at being made the subject of vulgar 
criticism. The effect of a decision not to 

90 



Talk 



91 



put the main question was to suppress it 
for the entire session. Afterward, when 
the form of the motion had been changed 
to the enquiry, " Shall the main question 
be now put," a negative decision resulted 
in suppressing it for the day only. So 
soon as an assembly declares itself of opin- 
ion that a question should not be put, it is 
a waste of breath to discuss the subject 
longer. The whole business is set out of 
the way for the time being. Inasmuch as 
a law of our imperfect nature, however, re- 
quires that there shall be a skeleton in every 
House, the bill may come up suddenly, as 
Hkely as not, on some other day, to plague 
the opposition. 

* An old gentleman, who has pored over 
the early records of New England to such 
an extent that he knows of little else, has 
been kind enough to assure me that, ac- 
cording to his memoranda, the machinery 
of the previous question reached our shores 
very shortly after the first settlement of the 
country. His theory is, that it came over 
in a good, reliable, slow-sailing ship that 
anchored off Derby's wharf, in Salem har- 
bor, somewhere about the summer of 1634. 
Imported, as it was, in the midst of a mis- 
cellaneous cargo, it does not appear to have 
attracted at the time any marked degree of 
attention.^ At first our grim but worthy 

1 It is interesting to note by the way that the celebrated Pilgrii 
Fathers, then living at Plymouth, had brought with them several 



Old-time 
lore 



92 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Double- 
barrelled 



Must be 
lively 



ancestors did not take to it kindly. Later 
on, however, it appears to have grown in 
favor, until now it may be pronounced as 
firmly fixed as are our rock-ribbed hills, or 
our custom-house frauds. 

* In the House of Representatives one may 
move a resolution and at the same time 
move the previous question upon that mo- 
tion — a neat method of dispatching two 
birds with one stone. The countenance of 
this time-saving privilege serves a little to 
atone for precious hours expended in 
speech-making. 

* Doubtless it has not escaped the attention 
of the reader that to the inquiry, *' Shall the 
main question be now put," an affirmative 
reply may be given. If so, the main ques- 
tion is put. The tellers betake themselves 
to their posts, to do the counting, and the 
voting proceeds. So, if a representative 
has waited patiently for a chance to get the 
floor, only to see the floor as it were glide 
away from him, he may as well make up 
his mind that his stock of eloquence goes 
over for the time being; those glowing 
sentences, that fervent appeal, that more 
than sublime climax, will all stand ad- 
journed. No other course is open but to 
change a few sentences and work off the 



questions previous by at least a dozen years ; for example, in what 
degree is it morally sinful to stay at home from meeting on the 
Lord's Day, for the purpose of shooting Indians ; whether a man 
wearing long hair can hope to escape brimstone, and the like. 



Talk 



93 



MS. at a future season in some other de- 
bate.^ 

* By a rule of the House of Represent- 
atives, the vote of a majority of members 
present, if a quorum, must be obtained to 
order a motion for the previous question. 
For some assembHes a negative vote upon 
a motion for the previous question sup- 
presses the main question for the day; in 
others, it has no effect ; it simply leaves the 
main question precisely where it was be- 
fore. 

* The great writers who have hitherto dealt 
with this subject rank the previous ques- 
tion next in dignity to a motion to lay upon 
the table. So do I. We are practically 
unanimous. 

* Our neighbors across the water at Lon- 
don, England, are using what is to all in- 
tents and purposes the previous question, 
under the name of cloture, a term, import- 
ed into parliamentary law from the French. 
Parliament in 1882 adopted new rules in 
which cloture makes its first appearance. 



1 Happy the man who can equal the readiness of a certain Ohio 
preacher, whose ambition had led him into the uncertain field of 
politics. On one occasion, it seems, he had prepared a powerful 
address upon the issues of the day, counting upon being called 
upon to preside over a nominating convention then about to meet in 
his county. When he arrived upon the scene, however, he dis- 
covered that the "slate " named some one else as chairman, while 
to him had been assigned the less stirring duty of making the open- 
ing prayer. When told what was expected of him, instead of show- 
ing disappointment, he accepted the office, merely remarking that 
he had got ready a ringing speech to "fire up" the brethren. 
" But," added he, after a moment's pause, " It's all right; I guess 
I can throw prett) much all of it into the form of a prayer." 



Itseffeci 



94 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Courtesy 



It is rumored that they whose chief busi- 
ness it is to Hsten, are more than pleased 
with the way it works. 
* Whilst the previous question, with its 
short, incisive way of dispatching business, 
has flourished for one hundred years in the 
House of Representatives, no similar pro- 
cedure at the present writing is known to 
the Senate, though the first Senate started 
off with a very sensible rule on the subject. 
Yet they are as delicate at that end of the 
Capitol about lingering to hear a man talk, 
who is not saying anything, as they are in 
the House. When a senator feels an in- 
spiration coming over him, that is going 
to make it necessary for him to keep talk- 
ing on a stretch it is understood that he will 
be good enough to let his brother senators 
hear of the program beforehand, so that 
those who wish, can go off on an excur- 
sion, put in an extra amount of work at the 
pension office, or otherwise profitably dis- 
pose of the time. The plan works admi- 
rably. But, on the other hand, there is no 
special provision made to meet the case of 
the senator who all unexpectedly has drift- 
ed into a discussion, and who seems to have 
lost the power of stopping himself. It has 
been a custom, however, since the forma- 
tion of the government, upon such emer- 
gencies, for the Senate to melt away into 
the cloak-room and elsewhere, leaving desk 
and papers to all appearance ready for a 



Talk 



95 



speedy return of the proprietor. The 
spectacle, as seen from the gallery, presents 
the illusion of being wholly unpremedi- 
tated. 

* We may exercise the right, I think, to 
conclude that we are to seek for the under- 
lying principle of the previous question in 
an unwritten law of nature. Apart, there- 
fore, from a rule to give the hint, let in- 
genuous youth ever cherish the reflection 
that there are times when he best serves the 
State, who stops talking and sits down. 
John Milton's idea, it is true, was tO' stand 
and wait, but I see no reason why the 
patriot m.ay not resume a sitting posture. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



Going over 



POSTPONEMENT 

Puncttiality is the thief of time. 

-ANON. 

WHATEVER may be said in gen- 
eral of the policy of putting over 
till to-morrow the burden of to- 
day, it is sometimes, in legislative affairs, a 
wise course to adopt. Before a session is 
well advanced, business gets crowded, and 
all sorts of measures, more or less urgent, 
stare the legislator in the face. To a re- 
markable degree the legislative mind par- 
takes of the common weaknesses of human 
nature ; it grapples with no difficulty that 
it can evade. 

* For plausible reasons, therefore, it fre- 
quently is thought best to let the considera- 
tion of a subject go over to a future day ; or 
perhaps till a later hour of the same day. 
A motion to postpone forms a very useful 
subsidiary motion. There may be either 
an indefinite postponement, or a postpone- 
ment to a day certain. 

* Where the object of moving to postpone 
is to defeat the bill, the maker of the mo- 
tion may fix upon a day beyond the usual 
and probable duration of the session. A 
motion of this character, though designed 
to deal a death-blow, is regarded from a 

96 



"^ 



Postponement 



97 



parliamentary standpoint as a perfectly in- 
nocent and well-intended motion. It is 
treated just the same as if the day were one 
within the session; a fresh illustration that 
parliamentary law, quite as complacently 
as other branches of the law, can shut its 
eyes sometimes to plain fact. I should 
fancy that an impossible date would answer 
the same fell purpose, as for instance the 
30th of February. We in America do not 
follow our English cousins, and resort to 
so clumsy a device as a day beyond the ses- 
sion. We prefer a short cut. We reach 
a like result by a motion to postpone indefi- 
nitely. 

* A motion to postpone to a day certain 
can of course be debated, but upon such a 
topic there is really not much to be said 
The question is simply whether to take this 
day or that, for the consideration of the bill. 
True, there are gentlemen gifted by nature 
who are able to ofifer a full line of remarks 
upon a theme even so contracted as this. 
They can take up a pocket calendar, and 
ventilate their opinions at much length as 
to the superiority of one particular date 
over another ; but it must be confessed that 
on these occasions the scope for genuine 
eloquence is limited. Upon a motion to 
postpone indefinitely, however, the orators 
may come forth in full force ; for the whole 
question is thrown open for debate — the 
merits, I mean, of the original measure. 



The 
difference 



98 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



* It is the rotation of the earth that makes 
an almanac so useful. As a matter of 
course that particular day gets along; and 
when it has arrived the bill or resolution 
that has been waiting for it, becomes at 
once a privileged question. A motion to 
take the bill up is in order, notwithstanding 
the House may be upon the point of pro- 
ceeding with something else. There are, 
to be sure, other matters more highly priv- 
ileged, to which it may still have to give 
place, as for instance a conference report ; 
but subject to the consideration of such 
privileged questions as are of greater dig- 
nity, the assigned bill has the right of way. 

* Here I am led to observe that the perils 
of a lee shore during the raging of a tem- 
pest have been set forth thrillingly by the 
writers of the old-fashioned sea-novel. The 
reader, drenched with salt spray as it were, 
can almost feel the shivering of the gallant 
bark beneath his feet, can hear the gale 
howling and hissing through the shrouds, 
see the long line of foaming breakers, and 
tremble at their awful roar ; and so on, to 
the end of the chapter. Were I equal to 
handling a metaphor so bold, I might bor- 
row one of these vivid descriptions, and ap- 
ply it to a poor, unfortunate bill that is 
drifting upon the rocks of indefinite post- 
ponement. It is a fearfully awkward situ- 
tion for a bill to get into. It needs not to 
be explained to the intelligent reader that 



Postponement 



99 



the moment a bill is indefinitely postponed, 
its career is over. It is done for. 
* To the creditor of the United States gov- 
ernment, who has been handed over gra- 
ciously to Congress for relief, the prospect 
of an indefinite postponement of his claim 
is ever present, filling his soul with whole- 
some dread. When weighted down by a 
foreboding of evil, he from his outlook in 
the gallery, watches anxiously Bill No. 
32,497, freighted with his hopes, only to 
witness it swiftly hurried by a relentless 
current toward the fatal reef, — he (the cred- 
itor aforesaid) feels a-weary. Thoughts 
crowd in upon him. He rises to withdraw. 
Time tables, and gay-colored posters, em- 
bellish his mental foreground. Each of the 
great railroad corporations assures the 
public of its own unparalleled facilities for 
conveying out of Washington the depart- 
ing traveller. This thought of interstatal 
transportation flashes into his brain. Su- 
perb trains, as he recalls it, make close con- 
nections at all points. For speed, comfort, 
keeping on the track, serving regular 
meals, and guaranteeing satisfaction in 
general, this route is the only line run- 
ning parlor cars and sleepers, through 
without change, free from dust, heavily 
ballasted, steel rails, patent switches, etc., 
etc., " thus ensuring absolute safety, and 
avoiding the annoyance, discomfort, deten- 
tion, and delays that infest the other con- 



A claimant's 
emotions 



t«fC. 



100 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Simplicity 



cern." He believes a large percentage of 
it, buys his ticket, and is gone. 

* Should a member desire to consign a 
measure to the region of indefinite post- 
ponement, his way of going about to make 
the proper motion therefor is simpHcity it- 
self. He has only to rise in his place, and 
when recognized by the Speaker, to ad- 
dress the Chair as respectfully as he knows 
how, saying, ** Mr. Speaker, I move that 
the bill be indefinitely postponed." If his 
motion be put to a vote and carried, the bill 
is indefinitely postponed; and the assem- 
bly, as it were, gambols into pastures new. 
If not — he subsides. 

* In the event that the Speaker does not 
happen to recognize him, the member un- 
dergoes postponement himself. 



CHAPTER XIX 



LAYING ON THE TABLE 

The unpremeditated lay. 

-SCOTT. 

BY all odds the most useful piece of 
furniture in legislative housekeeping, 
is the table. Chairs and desks to be 
sure have their conveniences; but if hard 
put to it, members can stand up; while 
desks are unknown, I believe, to the legis- 
lative chambers of modern Europe. Ac- 
cording to the tales of travellers, who have 
penetrated that region, and returned in 
safety, there may be found amid the spaci- 
ous halls and corridors of both Houses of 
Parliament, plenty of gilding, but not such 
an article as a desk-top whereon a states- 
man may hoist for a brief repose his weary 
feet ; nothing but hard benches set in a row. 

* The legislative table, however, I am 
obliged to explain, does not exist in con- 
crete form. AH the numerous bills, that 
day after day have been laid upon the 
table, are as matter of fact, filed away in 
pigeon-holes, close at hand. Motions 
when laid upon the table vanish, so to 
speak, into thin air. 

* According to ancient authority, the mo- 
tion to lay on the table was originally in- 
tended to be employed " when the House 



Former days 



102 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Valuable 
information 



has something before it that claims its pres- 
ent attention, but would be willing to re- 
serve the power to take up the proposition 
at some more convenient opportunity." 
With the growth of political necessities, the 
application of the motion has been extend- 
ed, until now it is resorted to, not merely to 
defer the consideration of a measure for the 
time being, but to kill a bill outright. Once 
let a bill be sent to the table, particularly 
when the end of the session is drawing 
nigh, and members are packing trunks — 
and there is not much hope of taking that 
bill up again. It lies forgotten. 

A motion to lay on the table is decided 
without debate. It cannot be amended, or 
postponed. " In general," says the author 
of The Law and Practice of Legislative 
Assemblies,^ " whatever adheres to the sub- 
ject of this motion, goes on the table with 
it; as, for example, where a motion to 
amend is ordered to lie on the table, the 
subject which it is proposed to amend goes 
with it." In the enunciation of these views, 
the distinguished author coincides exactly 
with the present wTiter. I have seen a 
short motion to amend laid upon the table, 
carrying along with it a bill involving sev- 
eral millions of dollars — and no perceptible 
jar, either. A negative decision of a mo- 
tion to lay on the table, like an injunction 

1 Section 1449. 



1 



Laying on the Table 



103 



to a growing boy to keep out of mischief, 
would be of no effect. 

* In the House of Representatives at 
Washington, and in many other bodies, it 
is customary for the member who has a 
measure in charge to move, after it has been 
passed, to reconsider the vote, and to lay 
that motion on the table. Affirmative ac- 
tion upon this last motion removes all dan- 
ger of the original vote being reversed ; 
since a vote to lay a motion to reconsider 
on the table, cannot itself be reconsidered ; 
nor can the motion be taken from the table, 
except by unanimous consent. This is 
an instance where a motion to lay a mo- 
tion to reconsider on the table, does not 
carry with it the pending measure. 

* Unless some positive rule forbid, a mo- 
tion that has been laid upon the table may 
be taken up and proceeded with at any 
time, even on the same day on which the 
motion to lay on the table has prevailed. 
This action is in strict conformity with the 
original purpose of a motion to table, viz, 
to give the right of way to certain business, 
which may be dispatched then more con- 
veniently, leaving the other to be brought 
forward at a later stage. Should no one 
move to take it from the table, it Hes there 
for the entire period that the assembly sits. 

* Under the later practice of the House of 
Representatives, when a Senate bill comes 
up for consideration, it is not in order to 



Nailing it 



Suiting 
co'iivenience 



104 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



lay it upon the table. The polite way of 
gratifying a disposition on the part of the 
more popular branch of Congress to get 
rid of the measure, other than by squarely 
voting it down, is to recommit, or postpone 
indefinitely. By resorting to one or the 
other of these expedients, a becoming show 
of courtesy is kept up, and the harmony 
that is presumed to exist between the two ' 
bodies is likely to continue undisturbed. 



CHAPTER XX 



COMMITMENT 

/ will debate this matter at more leisure. 

—COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

PARLIAMENTARY wisdom is ac- 
customed to entrust to a few, rather 
than to " all hands " the conduct of 
business in what may be called its prepar- 
atory stage. A body made up of a hundred 
constituents or more would find itself large- 
ly at cross purposes, were it to attempt in 
open session to put into shape a bill need- 
ing revision. Obviously, the proper course 
to pursue is to send the business to the few 
who understand it (or who, from familiar- 
ity with the class of subjects that the bill 
deals with, may be presumed to understand 
it), and to let that select few take the sub- 
ject under consideration, and report at a 
convenient season. By this device not 
only do those make the measure a subject 
of careful examination who are likely to be 
competent to deal with it, but opportunity 
is had for a quiet comparison of views, so 
as to reach a result in which all may con- 
cur. A calm and thorough deliberation in 
the open House is seldom practicable. The 
essential advantage, therefore, as we per- 
ceive, of transacting business by means of 
a committee, is subdivision of labor, and 
105 



io6 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Importance 
ofcommittees 



time enough given for a small number of 
members to discuss the matter in hand with 
due circumspection. 

* Two kinds of committees are engaged in 
the work of putting into shape bills and 
resolutions ; namely, standing and select 
committees. The former, composed of a 
fixed number of members, are appointed at 
the beginning of the session to continue as 
permanent organizations. The latter may 
be created, from time to time, as occasion 
demands, to treat of such special objects of 
legislation as the assembly may see fit to 
entrust to them. Of the appointment of 
standing committees, as well as of their 
functions, I shall have a word to offer in a 
later chapter. 

Nearly all the work of legislation nowa- 
days is done in committee ; for the House 
finds so many subjects claiming its atten- 
tion, that it is compelled in passing upon 
individual cases, to rely to a large extent 
upon what a committee may say, or recom- 
mend. The House cannot look into the 
merits of every measure that comes before 
it; it must borrow the eyes of its commit- 
tee. 

* The fate of a bill, we see, therefore, may 
not unfrequently hang upon the reference 
to a committee that shall be made of it. Oc- 
casionally a struggle is fought out between 
the friends and enemies of a measure, to 
determine how it shall be referred. A bill 



Commitment 



107 



it not usually entrusted to a committee that 
is avowedly hostile, provided there be an- 
other and a friendly committee that will 
take it in charge. A member who speaks 
against the body of a bill virtually an- 
nounces that he is not to be made one of a 
select committee to consider it; for, as a 
quaint phrase has it : " The child is not to 
be put to a nurse that cares not for it." 
Should it be a subject over which either 
one of two committees may properly assert 
jurisdiction, and should both stand ready 
to take the bill (like rival cab-drivers after 
the same fare), the House by vote decides 
to which it shall be referred. 

* At the time reference is ordered, the 
House may instruct its committee, or it 
may leave them free to pursue their way 
according to the best of their judgment. A 
committee, I need hardly add, must obey 
the instructions given them by the House. 
What would happen were they to disobey 
is not laid down in the books. I am not 
aware, however, of a single instance of 
mutiny on the part of a committee, to be 
found indexed anywhere in parliamentary 
annals. Let me confess, that it affords me 
pleasure to testify to a record so creditable, 

* Committees usually are left free from in- 
structions ; though sometimes a bill report- 
ed from a committee will, after a discussion 
in the House, be sent back to the commit- 
tee, with instructions to report a somewhat 



io8 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Reports 



The few 



different measure. As a rule, however, as- 
semblies sustain the action of their commit- 
tees, and this is particularly the case where 
a conclusion has been reached unanimously 
after full deliberation. 

* Under the committee system the advan- 
tage of working by majorities is to be seen 
at its best, a majority having power to de- 
cide upon measures submitted to them for 
action, and the result so attained standing 
as the conclusion of the committee. The 
chairman, or some member of the commit- 
tee designated for the purpose, returns to 
the House the bill, or resolution, and ac- 
companies it with a report, ordinarily in 
writing, which sets forth the action they 
have agreed upon, and the reasons there- 
for. The report is usually printed, so that 
each member of the House may have a 
copy. 

* In this world of sin, of sufifering, and of 
minorities, people do not always agree. So 
in cases where a committee have failed of 
unanimity, there is permitted to those who 
cannot subscribe the report, the privilege 
not only of dissenting, but of preparing a 
report of their own. This recognition of 
the right of a minority has been of late 
years engrafted as a custom, a " minority 
report " (as it is called) being received by 
courtesy of the House. It must be con- 
fessed that the minority sometimes con- 
trive to bring forward the better argument. 



Commitment 



109 



The document, however, is strictly no re- 
port at all ; nor is it treated as privileged in 
a parliamentary sense, but like a poor re- 
lation at the board, it is tolerated, not 
welcomed. Upon measures involving po- 
litical issues, committees are expected to 
divide upon party lines. They will prob- 
ably continue to do so until the arrival of 
the millennium is officially announced. It 
is to be remarked of a minority that they 
can be counted upon at all proper seasons 
to maintain their stand with sturdiness and 
vigor. They make up in activity and ad- 
jectives what they lack in numbers ; and 
never more so than when engaged in the 
congenial duty of *' denouncing " the ac- 
tion of the majority. 

* A committee derive their authority from 
the orders of the assembly. They cannot, 
therefore, change by amendment the form 
of a proposition that has been sent to them 
unless the subject be referred as well as the 
form of a measure. In the latter case, the 
committee may go to work upon a bill, and 
so change its features that even its intimate 
friends would be at a loss to recognize it. 
Or, if they so determine, they may report 
back a substitute that has no likeness what- 
ever to the original proposition. Such are 
the plastic powers of a committee. 

* You may amend a motion to commit 
Or, you may change the reference, and sub- 
stitute therefor a different committee; or, 



Their 
powers 



Liable to 
amendment 



no THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



if you choose, you may have the number 
of those who compose the committee 
changed ; or, you may add instructions, in 
order to make it plain saiHng for the com- 
mittee. 



CHAPTER XXI 



AMENDMENT 



/ see a good amendment. 

—KING HENRY IV. 



WE are now come to deal with the 
motion to amend, — a motion 
fruitful in rules and precedents. 
There is something peculiar about this mo- 
tion; and that is, — so easy does it seem to 
set a motion to amend in operation, that 
everybody fancies that he is just the man 
to take the matter in charge. The civilized 
world, indeed, is so made up that pretty 
much everyone of its inhabitants thinks 
himself competent to draw up and offer a 
*' little amendment." 

* A deep-seated and a well-nigh universal 
sentiment of our nature is this conviction 
that we can improve upon the work done 
by another's hand. As to the converse of 
the proposition, that another's hand can 
improve upon our work, there may be room 
to doubt ; but depend upon it, any sugges- 
tions coming from us are sure to be pre- 
cisely what is needed. Nor is the race yet 
extinct of those who 

" Will never follow anything 
That other men begin." 



Psychological 



112 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Better go 

slozv 



Decapitation 



Small wonder is it then that a bill is obliged 
to run the gauntlet of amendments. Some 
amendments are conceived wisely ; others, 
not. Instances are by no means rare, we 
shall find, where a change in phraseology, 
or the addition of a few words, adopted 
with little thought at the time of their true 
significance, or under a wrong conception 
of their legal effect, is engrafted into the 
law, only to work mischief, and in the 
sequel, consummately to plague the in- 
ventor. 

* This outcome is in part to be attributed 
to the haste with which the final wording 
of a bill is sometimes agreed to. A prop- 
osition to amend may appear on the sur- 
face to further the purposes of the bill. It 
renders the language more explicit, or pro- 
vides for a condition of affairs apparently 
not before thought of; but as debate pro- 
ceeds the newly proposed words turn out 
to be a clog and a hindrance. Or, at the 
last moment, in order to overcome some- 
body's objection, an amendment seemingly 
harmless, is tacked on by unanimous con- 
sent, and the bill gets its final vote. 

* If a member feel bloodthirsty, and can- 
not restrain himself, he may move to strike 
out the enacting clause of a bill. Should 
the motion prevail, the vital part of the bill 
is gone. A bill without an enacting clause 
is of no earthly use to anybody ; it is only 
so much waste paper. The same may be 



Amendment 



"3 



said of an enacting clause without a bill. A 
motion to strike out the enacting clause 
has precedence, in the House of Represent- 
atives, of a motion to amend. 

* To the young but ambitious statesman, 
who, after he has taken his seat at the peo- 
ple's bidding, is impatient to " figure in the 
fray," it may be well to offer here a single 
word of caution. Be not over-hasty about 
meddling in this somewhat perilous busi- 
ness of moving to strike out an enacting 
clause. Unless you have been chosen to 
make the motion, and have the votes be- 
hind you, it is better at this point to look 
wise and keep quiet. This unpretending 
treatise of ours aims to supply nothing else 
than a concise statement of what legis- 
lative rules and practice really are; but 
while doing this, it can at rare intervals 
drop a seed of wisdom by the way-side. 

* The reader will learn to his satisfaction 
that an amendment may be itself amended. 
This is no new-fangled doctrine. Our 
fathers practised it. Not a legislative as- 
sembly in the known world, however, has 
sanctioned an amendment to an amend- 
ment of an amendment. Nor is the reason 
far to seek. Such a privilege could not 
escape abuse. The door once thrown 
open, daring schemers might go on piling 
amendments to an amendment of an 
amendment, upon amendments to an 
amendment of an amendment — up to such 



Storm signal 



Must stop 
somewhere 



114 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Starting 
right 



Frontispiece 



a dizzy height of top-heaviness that the en- 
tire fabric would totter and tumble with 
stupendous crash to utter ruin. 

* Another imperishable principle for which 
our revolutionary sires fought, bled, and 
took continental currency, is that a bill can- 
not be amended on its first reading. At 
least, this is true of our national House of 
Representatives and many of our State 
legislatures. 

* A long-established canon of parliamen- 
tary law enjoins that when a bill, resolution, 
or motion, is to be amended, the work shall 
be begun at the beginning ; and if there be 
several paragraphs, each paragraph shall 
be taken up, and considered in succession. 
Beginning at the beginning, let me remark, 
is a habit that cannot be too warmly 
praised. Some of our most successful bus- 
iness men have acted in accordance there- 
with. You may have heard them mention 
the fact, occasionally. 

A preamble may be defined as a sort of 
introduction, — an overture, so to speak, to 
a resolution. It sounds the key-note. In- 
asmuch as a resolution may be modified to 
a considerable degree by successive amend- 
ments, it is usual, in cases where it requires 
alteration, to wait until it has been passed 
through the amending stage before shap- 
ing anew the preamble. The way it is done 
is as follows : The clerk first reads through 
Ithe paper to be amended — a ceremony that 



Amendment 115 

the clerk relishes ; the longer the paper, the 
more he seems to be pleased. Then the 
privilege is given to the clerk of taking up 
each paragraph, and reading that by itself. 
The House amends it here and there, as it 
sees fit. Finally, the Speaker puts the 
question on the whole paper as amended. 
Thus by paying strict attention, and keep- 
ing an eye fixed on the reading-clerk, a 
member not in the secret may comprehend 
possibly what is going on. 

* Should a committee, upon reporting a steering 
bill, recommend amendments thereto, the 
clerk (as soon as the bill is taken up) first 
reads through the several amendments. 
Then the presiding officer directs the clerk 
to read each amendment by itself, after 
which he separately puts each to a vote. 
The House may amend the amendment, 
but no new independent amendment to the 
main question is yet in order. As soon as 
the presiding officer has thus disposed of 
all the amendments reported from the com- 
mittee, he gives an opportunity to members 
eager to display their ingenuity at bringing 
in new amendments. Finally, when all 
this is through with, he puts the question 
upon the entire bill. 

^ The House of Representatives of the 
United States maintains yet another rule, 
well calculated to preserve our liberties, 
and to hand them down unimpaired for 
generations to come ; and that is, that no 



ii6 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



An 
illustration 



amendment by way of rider shall be re- 
ceived to any bill on its third reading. One 
sees at a glance that this is as it should be. 
A free people want no rider on their bills, — 
on their third reading. The rider on the 
ten-dollar national-bank bill, is De Soto 
discovering the Mississippi ; at least he 
used to be there, the last time I saw one. 
* While an amendment is pending, it is 
proper to speak of it as a '' pending amend- 
ment." Of course, it cannot be *' pend- 
ing " until after it has been offered. This 
simple explanation will, I trust, throw a 
flood of flight upon a phrase of frequent oc- 
currence in legislative reports, and in news- 
paper paragraphs, that I dare say has puz- 
zled the casual reader (and possibly other 
readers not casual), namely, " Pending the 
amendment, the House adjourned." Noth- 
ing gives me greater pleasure, I may add, 
than to clear up, one after another, these 
little mysteries that abound in the reports 
of legislative doings. 

Most men have an opportunity in various 
ways to amend their habits; but curiously 
enough there are only three ways in which 
a motion can be amended, viz. : By adding 
new matters ; by striking out ; and by sub- 
stitution. Yet statistics will show that a 
much larger percentage of motions get 
amended than of men's habits. Here is a 
fact about which Social Science ought to 
get somebody to prepare and read a paper. 



CHAPTER XXII 

MORE ABOUT AMENDING 

Again. 

—MR. BURKE'S 
Reflections on the Revolution in France. 

THE main object of amending a prop- 
osition is, as we have already seen, 
to put it into a better shape. We 
look naturally, therefore, for an amend- 
ment to accord with the proposition in re- 
spect to which it is offered. We expect it 
to aid in making the purport of that prop- 
osition more distinct. The task of im- 
proving the original form of a measure, we 
would imagine, would be left entirely to 
those who profess to be its friends. Such 
indeed is ordinarily, but by no means al- 
ways, the case. We must bear in mind 
that a motion when once made belongs to 
the assembly, and that it may fall into the 
hands of enemies as well as friends. Even 
the humblest and most obscure member of 
the body has a right to try his hand at al- 
tering it. An evil-minded opponent may 
move to amend so as wholly to change its 
meaning; he may propose to interpolate 
words which, if accepted, would so trans- 
form the original proposition that its 
friends would be driven to vote against it. 
In fact, under the manipulation of a skilful 
117 



ii8 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A liberal 
view 



and remorseless parliamentarian, a meas- 
ure may become, as the late Mr. Burton, in 
his great impersonation of Captain Edward 
Cuttle, with a moral wave of his hook, used 
to say of the conduct of a child who, after 
having been trained up to go in the way 
he should, had attained the requisite age, 
— " on the contrary, quite the reverse." 
^^ Legislative bodies do not look favorably 
upon any rule that curtails the useful power 
of amendment. They prefer that up to the 
last moment the way should be kept clear 
for a change in the wording of a proposi- 
tion, or in the methods by which it may be 
disposed of. To A. it may occur that the 
business ought to go to a different commit- 
tee; or B. may be struck with the fact that 
the postponement is set for an inconvenient 
hour. In every such case, it is manifestly 
an advantage that an amendment may be 
brought in, hke the rich uncle in the last 
act, to set things to rights. Most assem- 
blies are disposed to encourage this free- 
dom of action, since it facilitates the trans- 
action of business. Generally speaking, 
to amend is to alter the form, rather than 
the nature of the original motion ; for Snug 
was none the less plain Snug, the joiner, 
though he wagged an amendment in the 
shape of a lion's tail. 

* But you may not amend the previous 
question, nor a motion to lie upon the table. 
Each of these two motions stands or falls 



More About Amending 



119 



by itself, unique, unchanging and un- 
changeable. Party strife and blind ambi- 
tion may attempt the experiment of hawk- 
ing at it, the King himself may whistle 
around it, but the man does not live who 
can amend it, and not be out of order. 

* Not to pursue the subject further in de- 
tail, lest I might fatigue the reader, I would 
observe merely that while a motion to 
amend is itself subject to amendment, it 
resembles a tax-bill, in that it cannot be 
indefinitely postponed. Nor can the pre- 
vious question be sprung upon ^n amend- 
ment. I would be pleased also to impress 
upon the minds of the youth of America 
that this motion is secure against being laid 
upon the table. It must be met squarely 
and voted upon, to the exclusion of other 
methods that might have been brought for- 
ward just as well at the first. The main 
question, however, may, while an amend- 
ment of it is under consideration, be post- 
poned to a day certain ; and when the date 
comes around, the amendment will be 
found as alive as a toad in a rock. The 
main question Hkewise may be referred to 
a committee, because that body can take it 
and the amendment together, into their dis- 
tinguished consideration. 

* Many assembHes have laid down the rule 
that no motion or proposition upon a sub- 
ject different from that under considera- 
tion shall be admitted under color of 



A few more 
fragments 



One thing at 
a tune 



120 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



amendment. The reason for this restric- 
tion is, that the House does not propose to 
be led a wool-gathering. The House is 
quite right. 

* It may be useful to bear in mind that after 
a proposition is amended, its maker has no 
right to withdraw it. Like the nickel 
which under a passing impulse you have 
just dropped into the slot, — you may be- 
come the lawful proprietor of an article you 
do not want, but you do not get your nickel 
back again. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



All Gaul is divided, etc., etc. 

—CESAR'S COMMENTARIES. 

THE problem of dividing a legis- 
lative measure into parts presents to 
the inquiring and candid mind cer- 
tain features worthy of careful considera- 
tion. Of course, it sometimes happens that 
a proposition when first offered is com- 
posed (like a proprietary article at the drug- 
store) of various ingredients; and the as- 
sembly is not prepared to swallow it as a 
whole. Accordingly some one makes a 
motion to divide the proposition into ques- 
tions, to be dealt with singly. In order to 
determine whether a proposition is sus- 
ceptible of division in a parliamentary 
sense, the proper course is to divide it, and 
note the result. If the parts are entire and 
complete by themselves, the division will 
be allowed. While highly desirable, it is 
by no means necessary that the divided 
parts shall make sense; for more than one 
enactment gets as far as the statute-book 
without answering that requirement. But 
should one of the parts be fragmentary and 
incomplete, it follows as a logical result 
that the division cannot be sustained. An 
assembly may, if it see fit, approve of one 

121 



122 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Right to 
divide 



part, and disapprove of another. The cor- 
rect method of accompHshing a division, 
we observe, therefore, is to make a motion 
to divide the bill thus and so, describing 
each part by itself. 

* It was formerly taken for granted that a 
member had the right to have a complicat- 
ed question, which is susceptible of di- 
vision, resolved by division into its several 
parts, so that he could enjoy the gratifica- 
tion of voting separately on each part ; and 
this, too, on his mere demand. But with 
the wider diffusion of knowledge, it has 
come about that the learned writers now 
entertain the conviction that there is no 
such right. It seems that the House of 
Commons had the question before them in 
1770, during one of those lively disputa- 
tions engendered by the habit that John 
Wilkes, Esquire, about that time had con- 
tracted of appearing, disappearing, and re- 
appearing as a member from Middlesex. 
The right to such division was ably argued ; 
and the House by a decided vote reached 
the conclusion that it could not be permit- 
ted to a member to exercise the privilege as 
a matter of right. But Congress by special 
rule provides, that if a question include 
propositions so distinct that one being taken 
away a substantive proposition remains, a 
member may demand a division of the 
question before it is put. Thus we clearly 
perceive that after all the world moves. 



Division 



123 



* Upon introducing a bill, it is not infre-j 
quently found convenient to leave certain 
spaces blank, to be filled by the assembly 
with such names, dates, amounts, etc., as 
it shall in its wisdom deem proper ; much as 
a stone-cutter will fashion gravestones for 
his ready-made department, with a '' Sacred 
to the Memory of," and adding a few con- 
ventional virtues — such as relatives will not 
grumble at the estate's paying for, — come 
to a halt. To fill up blanks in a bill re- 
quires a motion, unless the addition be in 
the shape of a new provision, in which case 
the effect is reached through an amend- 
ment. Usually several motions are made, 
comprehending the respective numbers, 
amounts, and so forth, to be filled in, before 
any one motion is put to the question. 

* On this side of the Atlantic, the usage 
prevails to put first to the question the larg- 
est sum mentioned, and the least time ; 
whereas the English practice is just the 
reverse of ours. Possibly it is because 
America spends more money, and takes 
less time in doing it, than John Bull. 

* The matter contained in two propositions 
may be brought into a single measure, by 
rejecting one proposition, and adding to 
the other in the form of an amendment. 
Sidney Smith, it will be remembered, ad- 
vises the young writer to draw the pen 
through every other line, as a means of im- 
parting vigor to style ; which, of course, the 



Filling 
blanks 



Ours and 
theirs 



124 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A sttdden 
spasm 



A massive 
truth 



young writer never does. Few will ques- 
tion that terseness is greatly to be desired 
in framing bills.^ 

* Should it become necessary to transfer a 
paragraph to another part of a bill, a pre- 
liminary motion is made to strike it out, 
and then a second motion to insert it in the 
place desired. 

* There are occasions when a member, after 
moving a resolution, is seized with a de- 
sire, for some reason or other, to modify its 
terms. Out of courtesy he may be permit- 
ted to change the language, just as if the 
resolution actually had belonged to him. 
Strictly speaking, however, a motion once 
put by the presiding officer becomes the 
property of the assembly ; and a change of 
wording can be effected only upon motion. 
Gentlemen would do well, therefore, to get 
their motions into the exact shape that is 
wanted before they offer them. It is more 
business-like. 

* When a proposition to amend by insert- 
ing a paragraph is made, the proposition 



» It is related of General Zachary Taylor, while serving his 
country in Mexico, that he was once outnumbered by Santa Anna's 
army in the proportion of about four to one. TheRlexican general 
thereupon sent a polite message to the American camp, demanding 
a surrender. Taylor glancing at the communication went on eating 
his dinner, simply remarking off-hand to an aide: "Give him Gen- 
eral Taylor's compliments and tell him to go to ." (Here op- 
portunity offers to "fill a blank" with the name of certain head- 
quarters, not unheard of in military circles.) " Put that into 
Spanish, Mr. Trist." Herein Old Rough and Ready exhibited a 
quality that would have ensured him success at the business of 
|drafting bills. 



Division 



125 



itself may be amended. by striking out and 
inserting, or by inserting simply. This 
seems to be one of those shining truths that 
cannot be impressed upon the rising gen- 
eration too firmly. Our young men, I 
should say, ought by all means to be taught 
betimes to strike out for themselves. If a 
member who desires to amend an amend- 
ment by inserting words therein, waits un- 
til after the question has been taken upon 
the amendment, he will discover to his 
chagrin that he is left in the lurch, inas- 
much as the effect of a decision either way 
upon the amendment is to prevent future 
alteration. 

* To those who have a fondness for dab- 
bling in amendments, there are perhaps 
few exercises more attractive than striking 
out and inserting all in one motion. It is 
a quick way of accomplishing what might 
require otherwise two distinct processes. 
The motion is to strike out certain words, 
and to insert others in their place. For in- 
stance, a debating society has a resolution 
before it to the effect that a " printing press 
is the fittest emblem of an advanced civili- 
zation." A member, with a view to improv- 
ing matters, moves to strike out the words 
" a printing press " and insert (what it is 
always a pleasure to insert) "a cork-screw." 
Should the assembly prefer to pass upon 
the two questions in a divided form, they 
can do so, either by their vote, or upon the 



Striking out 



[26 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Not hopeless 



A vista of 
possibilities 



A restriction 



request of a single member, if there be, as 
is often the case, a special rule to that 
effect. 

* A motion to strike out and insert may be 
designed to make the original proposition 
read better, though occasionally it is em- 
ployed to defeat it altogether. When used 
for the latter purpose, it is capable of 
various modifications, so that the mover, if 
he fail of a majority at the first, need not 
fold his hands, and give up the task in de- 
spair. Opportunity is yet left for him to 
distinguish himself. 

* He may move to strike out the same 
words and (i) insert nothing; or (2) insert 
other words ; or (3) same words with other 
words. Failing this, he may smile still and 
appear undismayed; for it is open to him 
to move to insert (4) a part of the same 
words with others, or he may move to (5) 
strike out the same words with others, and 
insert the same ; or (6) strike out a part of 
the same words with others and insert the 
same ; (7) strike out other words and insert 
the same ; or (8) insert the same words 
without striking out anything. After 
ranging through this entire series, if he re- 
mains unsatisfied, it must be that he is hard 
to please. 

* But suppose the motion to strike out cer- 
tain words and insert others be carried, it 
is not allowable afterwards to insert the 
words stricken out, or a part of them ; or to 



127 



strike out the words inserted, or a part of 
them. If it were, the assembly might be 
made sometimes to eat its own words, 
which, of course, it can hardly be expected 
to do. The member who approaches the 
subject candidly learns that he can try and 
live during the session by the following 
rule: It may be moved (i) to insert the 
same words with others ; (2) to insert a part 
of the same words with others ; (3) to strike 
out the same words with others; (4) to 
strike out a part of the same words with 
others. 

* The indefatigable reader who has accom- 
panied me through these intricate passages 
of the law, must feel himself fully prepared 
for revelations still more inexplicable. He 
is implored to receive in as calm a state of 
mind as possible the intelligence that an 
amendment by striking out and inserting 
may itself be amended in three different 
ways ; both in the paragraph to be stricken 
out, and in that to be inserted, by striking 
out, by inserting, and by striking out and 
inserting. Let there be no mistake about 
this. 

* I do not feel like complicating matters by 
adding a word of my own to what has been 
stated. But I consider it a duty to those 
who look to this standard work to guide 
their footsteps aright, that I should explain 
how members are expected to find out what 
it is they are asked to vote upon, when the 



Timely 
observation. 



128 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

House has reached the somewhat arid 
region of which the present chapter at- 
tempts to treat. Upon a motion to amend, 
by striking out certain words and inserting 
others, the Chair first causes the whole 
passage to be read as it stands ; then the 
words proposed to be stricken out; next 
the words to be inserted, and lastly, the en- 
tire text as it will read if amended. By a 
rule of the House of Representatives, at 
Washington, a motion to strike out and in- 
sert is, like the Union of States, indivisible. 
Some of our State legislatures, on the other 
hand, provide by rule that the motion shall 
be treated as divisible. This interesting 
fact not only demonstrates what a great 
country we are living in, but proves that the 
practice on this point is very much a matter 
of taste, after all. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS 

W/iat's trumps? 

—POLE ON WHIST. 

A PROPOSITION submitted by a 
member to the whole body in re- 
gard to a subject under considera- 
tion, is termed, as we have seen already, a 
motion. When once a motion has been 
made, and is before the assembly, no other 
can take its place, unless it be an incidental 
question or motion. 

* Privileged questions, as the term is em- 
ployed by a legislative body, are so called 
because they take precedence of the main 
question. They are of four kinds : First, 
motions to adjourn; second, motions relat- 
ing to the rights or privileges of the assem- 
bly ; third, motions for the order of the day ; 
and fourth, the presentation of a conference 
report. 

* The motion to adjourn is one of the old- 
est motions known to the law. Its origin 
(so they say at the British Museum) is lost, 
together with a good many other things, 
in the obscurity of the past. This circum- 
stance is unfortunate in the eyes of those 
indomitable spirits who want to feel sure 
about the precise date when everything 
that is now a going was originally started. 

129 



Take the 
lead 



A djourn 



130 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Smatters of 
learning 



All that can be safely stated is that some- 
body at a very early period must have seen 
in the motion to adjourn a happy expedi- 
ent. If there ever were a time antedating 
the existence of this motion, people then 
living must have possessed extraordinary 
powers of endurance, for when a gathering 
took place, it could not have been dis- 
solved, except by a steady dropping out of 
one man after another. So gradual a proc- 
ess seems, however, almost out of the ques- 
tion, — the question of adjournment, I 
mean. But never mind its origin ; it is 
enough now to say that the motion to ad- 
journ is, and always has been, the most 
popular motion on the list. No visitor can 
go in and out of a State House repeatedly 
during a session, without being impressed 
with the fact that this motion is a fresh and 
beautiful illustration of the one-touch-of- 
nature theory. 

* There appears to be an error prevalent 
in respect to the universal application of the 
motion to adjourn. There are occasions 
where a motion for an assembly to adjourn 
is not in order. The House has just voted 
on a proposition to adjourn, and has de- 
cided it in the negative. A second motion 
to adjourn, then and there made would be 
ruled out of order, for it is not to be pre- 
sumed of a body made up of wise and dis- 
creet material that it will veer around so 
suddenly. In these circumstances the rule 



i 



Privileged Questions 



131 



applies, that some business must intervene, 
and be transacted, before a new motion to 
adjourn will be in order. Again, a motion 
to adjourn cannot be made while another 
member is speaking, however reconciled 
the House might be to a program^ that 
would relieve the gentleman from further 
exertion. Nor can the motion be made 
after another question has been put, and 
while the House is actually engaged in vot- 
ing. In order to make the motion to ad- 
journ, one must regularly obtain the floor. 
Still it may be written in large shining let- 
ters that a motion to adjourn takes pre- 
cedence of all other motions, except that 
the presentation of a conference report is 
always in order in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

* That it may acquire a privileged charac- 
ter, the motion must be simply that we do 
'* now adjourn." If the motion be to ad- 
journ to a particular place, or until a par- 
ticular time, it loses its privilege, and takes 
its chances like any motion involving a 
question of expediency. A simple motion 
to adjourn is not debatable; but when the 
program is to adjourn until Monday, or 
adjourn till twelve o'clock, somebody may 
be seized with a desire to inform his fellow- 
members why Tuesday is a better day, or 
half-past eleven o'clock a more suitable 
hour. However dreary it may be to listen 
to the author of these suggestions, the law 



Thai 'and 
nothing more 



The double- 
quick 



132 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

parliamentary tells us that the subject as 
thus presented is capable of discussion, 
even though the man on the floor be in- 
capable of discussing it. 

A further peculiarity of the motion to ad- 
journ is, that it must be put immediately. 
It cannot be amended, except in the case 
where no business is before the assembly; 
then, and then only, is it open, like other 
motions, to amendment. For the law, 
conceiving that where no business is in 
hand, the best known device to keep mem- 
bers out of mischief is to adjourn them, — 
views with undisguised favor a step that 
promises to hasten a result so desirable. 
But when the House has refused to ad- 
journ, it is not in order to move to recon- 
sider the vote. The time of a legislature is 
too valuable to be spent in trying to see 
whether the House will not forthwith 
change its mind, after having decided to 
stay and transact business. Grave and 
reverend seniors are to be taken at their 
word ; and some business, as I have said al- 
ready, must intervene. I repeat, therefore 
that a motion to adjourn (like that inde- 
scribable motion the traveller experiences 
on the deck of an ocean steamer) cannot be 
reconsidered. 

* Any one who is keen to note numbers, 
may succeed in having his name mentioned 
in the proceedings if he only watch till he 
sees that less than a quorum is present. He 



Privileged Questions 



133 



must then jump up and move to adjourn 
He cannot jump up, and move to take a 
recess, since that particular motion would 
not be in order. 

* When it seems impossible for an assem- 
bly at one sitting to finish the work on 
which it is engaged, the usual plan is to fix 
seasonably in the proceedings the hour at 
which an adjournment shall take place. 
Like getting in your winter's coal in July, 
or securing orchestra chairs well down to 
the front three days in advance, it is a 
praiseworthy method of avoiding hurry and 
confusion. A merely temporary suspen- 
sion of business, without an adjournment, 
is called a recess ; and a motion for the pur- 
pose is privileged, and not debatable. 
Sometimes the legislative day is kept up 
right along through the almanac, until the 
measure is disposed of by final vote, so that 
the journal shows but one day, continued 
by means of a recess, while the world out- 
side have been enjoying several days of the 
ordinary kind.^ 

* The King prorogues Parliament ; that is, 
by his royal authority he suspends the sit- 
tings of both branches, to be resumed at a 
future day. This is a prerogative of the 
throne. Not having a king in our scheme 

^ The longest day on record hung over the country during the 
" electoral count " of 1877, in the second session of the Forty-fourth 
Congress, when the "legislative day" of ist February, 1877, ended 
at twelve o'clock noon, of Thursday, March ist. House Digest, 
51st Congress, page 444. 



Time by the 
forelock 



Prorogation 



134 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Hours of 
getting to 
work 



of dealing out the offices, we have made 
shift to get along without a means of be- 
ing prorogued, except what our various 
legislative assemblies by joint action can 
do for themselves. The Federal Constitu- 
tion comes to the rescue in a slight degree, 
however, where it confers upon the Presi- 
dent power, in the event that both Houses 
of the Congress should disagree with re- 
spect to the time of adjournment, to ad- 
journ them to such time as he shall think 
proper. Another provision restricts either 
House from adjourning for more than 
three days, without the consent of the 
other; or to any other place than that in 
which the two Houses shall be sitting. Our 
forefathers, it would seem, were minded 
that their posterity should be spared the 
spectacle of one House hunting over the 
country to find the other, which state of 
things, however beneficial in the sale of 
newspaper extras, might prove detrimental 
to the best interests of the people ; as well 
as disastrous to the hotels and boarding- 
houses of the National Capital. 

A good while ago, when manners and 
customs were more primitive than now, 
Parliament used to begin its sessions as 
early as six or seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing; so as to let the parliamentarians get 
through in season to go home by sundown. 
This arrangement of the time-table, it is 
obvious, effected a saving in the item of 



Privileged Questions 135 

candles. Whether every M.P. brought 
with him his dinner-pail, so as to shorten 
the intermission at noon, history fails to in- 
form us. Sometimes no doubt it happened 
that the whole body became so interested 
in wrangling over a bill, that no one wanted 
to leave ofif as it grew dark ; and hence a 
motion prevailed to bring in candles. This 
motion we may be sure was the equivalent 
of a motion to prolong the debate. We 
learn that in 1717 the Commons adopted a 
standing order, which is still in force, that 
candles be brought in. This has been 
acted upon since, without passing any or- 
der to that effect. It is interesting to ob- 
serve how generally assemblies on this side 
of the Atlantic follow the precedent; for 
men, whose business it is to take care of 
the hall, go around on dark afternoons and 
turn on the gas, or electric lights, without 
so much as a member's making a speech, 
or asking for a vote. 

"^ The effect of an adjournment upon busi- itsefcct 
ness pending at the time, is provided for 
generally by rule. In Congress, it is in or- 
der, at a certain point in the proceedings, to 
call up for consideration the unfinished 
business upon which the House at the hour 
of adjournment may have been engaged. 
Otherwise, if a motion to adjourn passes, 
the pending question is suppressed and re- 
moved from the assembly, so that if re- 
newed, it must be brought forward in the 



136 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Winding up 



usual way, as if it had not been taken up 
before. Occasionally the friends of a 
measure will secure an adjournment for the 
express purpose of gaining time in order to 
arrange plans to have the bill passed on the 
morrow, its opponents to be seen in the 
meanwhile, and some of them won over to 
its support ; or persuaded at least to slacken 
their opposition. As a usual thing, the ef- 
fect of final adjournment is to let the coun- 
try breathe more freely, a legislature never 
being so harmless as when it stands per- 
manently adjourned. 

"^ In the natural order of events, an assem- 
bly must reach at last the end of its lease of 
life. All the honorable members who live 
long enough become some day private citi- 
zens, like the rest of us. An adjournment 
' for good," it is usually termed, as indi- 
cating the satisfaction with which the pub- 
He at large regard it. Persons accustomed 
to the use of Latin are apt to speak of an 
adjournment as being sine die. This 
means " without day." When the day that 
has been fixed for a final adjournment ar- 
rives at last, and the assembly expires, 
members reach out instinctively for sta- 
tionery, and such other perquisites as may 
be lying around unappropriated, pack their 
vaHses, bid each other good-by, regard- 
less of politics, and start for the railroad 
station. Every one feels that he is wanted 
at home, to explain what they have accom- 



Privileged ^estions 



137 



plished, and what they haven't, — the latter 
particularly. 
* The chamber is at last deserted. The 
walls that but yesterday echoed with the 
tones of fierce denunciation, or of glowing 
eulogy, now stand mute and silent. Here 
and there one may discern — but why em 
bark upon an attempt at fine writing ? The 
regular corps of newspaper correspondents 
do it infinitely better, putting in just the 
requisite amount of pathos, together with 
those delicate touches of imagination, for 
which the public look so eagerly, and get 
so regularly. Practice enables a newspa- 
per man to embellish his description of the 
last night of the session of Congress in a 
style inimitably his own. Such brilliant 
work is it, that the reader is lost in wonder, 
particularly the reader who has kept vigil 
in the gallery, and who does not recall hav- 
ing seen anything of the sort, — a sure proof 
of genius in the reporter. 



Word 
painthig 



CHAPTER XXV 

A TALK ABOUT PRIVILEGE 

Dost thou not suspect tny place ? 

-DOGBERRY. 

A PRIVILEGED motion which for 
the time being supersedes all oth- 
ers (except the motion to adjourn) 
is that relating to the rights and privileges 
of the assembly, or of one of its members. 
It is to be observed that from the first it has 
been the unvarying custom of the members 
of a deliberative body to consider them- 
selves of no small consequence. They feel 
it a duty to magnify their office. Constitu- 
ents expect it. By the unwritten law, for 
instance, the moment a man steps out of 
private life into one of these positions, he 
is to be addressed through the mail as 
Honorable." Could we gauge the pre- 
cise quantity of respect that belongs offi- 
cially to a single one of these " Honor- 
ables," and multiply the same by the whole 
number of seats, we might approximate a 
result capable of being expressed mathe- 
matically. It would enable us to compre- 
hend perhaps of what transcendent impor- 
tance all questions must be that involve the 
rights and privileges of members, whether 
taken individually, or as a body of digni- 
taries. An enquiry of this nature is termed 
138 



A Talk About Privilege 



139 



a question of privilege. It may be raised 
at any time; and if the presiding officer de- 
cides it to be well taken it has a clear right 
of way. All other business must stand 
aside to let this momentous question be 
agitated. 

* Much of the freedom and vigor that 
should attend the actions of a legislative 
assembly is due to the readiness with which 
it can be counted on to uphold and defend 
its privileges. The public behold grate- 
fully a display of this spirit by its servants 
upon proper occasions. It sees that the 
privileges of the assembly is but another 
name for the rights of the people. That 
fraction of the public which occupies the 
gallery is sure to look down approvingly, as 
the House lays aside other business, and 
with more or less bustle proceeds to vindi- 
cate those rights. 

* It is apparent that no special rule can be 
laid down in advance to determine what 
shall, and what shall not, constitute a ques 
tion of privilege. Every cause of com- 
plaint must be judged by itself, upon its 
own facts. A presiding officer ought to 
hold fast to all the calmness he can com 
mand, and determine the case as fairly as 
possible. 

* That an assault, made by one member up- 
on another, raises a question of privilege, 
nobody doubts. I do not mean an onset 
of words, but a vulgar, corporal assault, 



The people s 
right 



A medley 



A ssault and 
battery 



140 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Scrimmage 
continued 



where it may be said that the defendant 
with force and arms, then and there, with 
great violence, did beat, bruise, wound, 
and ill-treat the plaintiff. To the credit of 
legislatures, be it remarked, such scenes are 
of extremely rare occurrence. In fact, one 
might sit in an assembly for years, and not 
witness anything of the kind. Still, it is 
proper that the student, who aims to ac- 
quire a comprehensive knowledge of par- 
liamentary practice, should learn what is 
the appropriate procedure in such cases. 
The first step then, let me impress upon 
him, is to separate the parties. This done, 
it is well perhaps, should signs of serious 
injury be observed, to send the unfortu- 
nate man home in a hack, and have the 
doctor summoned at once. As for the re- 
mainder of the procedure, the House will 
pursue the usual course. 

So a hand-to-hand encounter between re- 
porters in the presence of the House is 
highly obnoxious ; an offer to bribe a mem- 
ber; an offer to shoot a member, giving 
him nominally a similar privilege in return, 
i.e., a challenge to fight a duel ; a refusal by 
a member to take his seat, when the Chair 
orders him to do so ; violent and threaten- 
ing language used toward a member in de- 
bate, — all these are considered to give rise 
I to a question of privilege that has to be 
looked into on the spot. The report of a 
Committee that a witness refuses to answer 



A Talk About Privilege 14 1 

a proper question put to him by the Com- 
mittee is privileged.^ 

* The most frequent phase of the question 
of privilege presents itself v^hen a repre- 
sentative of the people, as soon as the clerk 
has finished reading the journal, gets the 
floor, for a personal explanation. The dis- 
tinguished gentleman, we are to under- 
stand, is to the last degree jealous of the 
rights of his constituency, and of its untar- 
nished honor. Were his own fair fame 
alone concerned, he might suffer the base 
calumny to pass unnoticed, but the duty he 
owes to those whom he has the honor to 
represent on this floor. Sir, will not permit 
him to remain silent. This seems to be the 
way he feels about it. 

* He voices these lofty sentiments in a tone 
so solemn, and follows them up with a pause 
so utterly impressive, that to one who has 
not heard the same thing before, it appears 
as if a crisis in the affairs of the nation had 
arrived. Entrenched in his virtuous pur- 
pose, he sends to the clerk's desk a news- 
paper clipping, and he asks the Speaker to 
have the goodness to direct the clerk to read 
" with due emphasis and proper accent," 
the extract from a certain sheet (naming it) 



1 Newspaper reporters have been ordered into imprisonment by 
the Senate of the United States for the offence of sending to their 
journals for publication copies of certain documents that were 
official secrets, such as treaties and the like. These hardships 
marked the latter half of the nineteenth century. 



142 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



The storm 
rages 



Getting even 



that reflects upon him, — upon him in his 
official capacity — aye, as an occupant of a 
seat in this honorable House, — with terrific 
stress upon the word House. By the exer- 
cise of an exemplary self-control the gentle- 
man, at whom the entire gallery is now gaz- 
ing, restrains himself until the clerk has 
recited the obnoxious article, of which, it is 
safe to say, not half a dozen of those present 
had ever before heard a word. This ac- 
complished, the injured statesman proceeds 
to repair damages. He frees his mind. 

* It is a question of privilege he is working 
under. He repeats slowly the slanderous 
article, word after word, and treats the 
House to a running comment thereon. He 
denies. He denounces. He explains. 
He throws his arms about. His voice quiv- 
ers with indignation. He winds up by 
hurling back with scorn something or other 
into somebody's teeth. Then having got- 
ten through, he takes his seat, and no one 
is killed. Whereupon his countenance 
gets back its usual placidity, heightened 
somewhat by a radiance that comes of the 
consciousness of duty well performed. He 
retires to the cloak-room to receive the 
handshaking of admiring friends, — the 
hero of the morning hour. Business re- 
sumes. 

* It is by no means every newspaper vili- 
fication of a member that entitles him to 
constitute himself a central monumental 



A Talk About Prioilege 



H3 



figure by rising to a personal explanation. 
If it were, little time would be left to pass 
appropriation bills, and transact the rest of 
the public business. An attack must be 
upon a member in his representative ca- 
pacity afifecting his reputation, and charg- 
ing him with improper conduct, or mo- 
tives, in respect to pending or proposed 
legislation. The member who is fortunate 
enough to have an ungrounded charge of 
this character set in circulation in his dis- 
trict, will not be slow to seize the oppor- 
tunity to roast his traducers. I think 
'' roast " is the appropriate word. It may 
not be elegant, but it conveys the idea. 
"^ The presence of a mob with intention to 
overawe the assembly is, of course, very ir- 
regular. Likewise, it is highly improper 
to obstruct a member who is making his 
way to or from the House. Even a cab or 
electric-car has no right to run over him, 
while Congress is in session. Such mis- 
behavior is to be classed with breaches of 
privilege.^ 
* Though a matter of privilege supersedes 



1 One of the most celebrated disturbers of Parliamentary tran- 
quillity known to historj^, was Guy Fawkes, who, as everybody re- 
members, went to work in his own peculiar way to move Parliament. 
He selected the fifth of November, 1605, as the date of operations. 
Had he succeeded in his nefarious attempt to blow sky-high the 
legislative workshop of England, he would have committed a great 
breach of privilege — a breach measuring how many feet across I 
will not undertake to say. But Fawkes failed. He was drawn, 
hanged, and quartered ; and he now stands in opprobrious wax- 
work, as an example of the villain of the period. 



Breach of 
privilege 



Jl 



Further 
talked about 



Other 

privileges 



144 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

a consideration of the original question, 
and must be taken up first, it is not neces- 
sary that final disposition be made of it, 
on the spot. Nor is it one of those sub- 
jects that exclude talkative members from 
ventilating their views ; for the question 
whether it be really a matter of privilege is 
open to debate. Often the prudent course 
is to defer action for the time being, in a 
hope that, with the coming of calm reflec- 
tion, proper apologies may be got ready, 
and resort be had to easier ways out of the 
difficulty. The subject may need full in- 
vestigation, and therefore, to be referred to 
a committee, with power to send for per- 
sons and papers. Or, as happens not infre- 
quently, the cooler heads of the House may 
agree that the occurrence after all is of no 
great moment ; and by general consent, the 
motion that deals with it is laid upon the 
table. 

* There remain to be noticed certain priv- 
ileges, personal in their nature, to which I 
need make only a passing allusion. Such, 
for instance, is freedom from arrest. A 
representative of the people cannot in his 
official capacity be pounced upon by the 
sheriff, and arrested on civil process, while 
the assembly which he ornaments is in 
session. Legislative dignity forbids. His 
fleshly tabernacle may be needed in the 
House, nobody knows at what moment, for 
the purpose of making a quorum. The 



A Talk About Privilege 



145 



people have the right to be represented by 
him every day of the week, and every hour 
of the day — a right that nothing short of 
illness, under a regular physician, can sus- 
pend. The intelligent reader sees at a 
glance how impossible it would be to get 
word to a sheriff, or deputy, at the precise 
moment when the bodily presence of the 
distinguished gentleman is peremptorily 
demanded. Private business, and espe- 
cially that part of it which consists of inter- 
views with creditors, must wait until sub- 
jects of public concern are disposed of. 
* Nor can the men who make laws be com- 
pelled to sit on a jury. That doUar-and-a- 
quarter-a-day work is not for them. No 
matter how hard it may prove to get to- 
gether an intelligent and unprejudiced 
twelve, the legislator is safe from a sum- 
mons. Nor can you drag him into court 
as a witness in a civil action, for he has su- 
perior duties in another place. As a mat- 
ter of fact, however, this exemption is usu- 
ally waived. The truth is, a willingness to 
talk in pubHc gets to be so ingrained with 
your average member, that it takes no great 
amount of urging to induce him to appear 
upon the witness-stand. Should he con- 
sent to testify, the lawyer on the other side 
has just as much right to try to harass and 
perplex him, on cross-examination by a 
running fire of questions, as if the witness 
were only an ordinary man. 



146 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Franking 



Its pervasive 
quality 



Like the r 
of us 



* A substantial privilege of a Congress- 
man, which time has sanctioned, and tax- 
payers have come to tolerate, is that of 
sending speeches, and other heavy docu- 
ments of a public nature, together with 
packages of seeds, through the United 
States mail, free of postage. This boon is 
one of the great rights that bolster up our 
liberties; a boon which the Barons would 
have wrested from King John at Runny- 
mede gladly enough, if any gentleman rep- 
resenting the party of the second part, on 
that historic occasion, had happened to 
think of it. 

* The benign effect of the franking priv- 
ilege, it is to be observed, can be felt in the 
remotest corner of a member's district. It 
is safe to say that no man living can cipher 
out the gross amount of statistical, finan- 
cial, and other useless and voluminous in- 
formation, that is dispensed profusely to an 
intelligent constituency, during the several 
weeks that precede an election, all owing 
to this happy adjunct of civilization, the art 
of franking. 

* There remain sundry other duties and 
obligations in respect to which a legislator 
resembles the rest of mankind, in not being 
exempt therefrom by virtue of his official 
position. For instance, he is, with the rest 
of us, exposed to the breezy incursion of 
the book-agent, as well as the insidious or 
the open attack of the subscription paper. 



A Talk About Privilege 147 

When he travels by rail, he has no superior 
chance of escaping the importunities of the 
train-boy. Perhaps it may be as well for 
our statesmen thus to be put on a level with 
ourselves; they may to some degree come 
to understand what people at large have to 
endure. One privilege, however, remains 
to a Congressman, in which his constitu- 
ents may not expect to share ; and that is, 
the right at his decease, to be buried with- 
out charge, under a monument of granite, 
with suitable inscriptions, in the Congres- 
sional Cemetery. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

ORDERS OF THE DAY 

Children of a larger growth. 

-DRYDEN, 

THE holder of an excursion ticket to 
Washington, stimulated by a laud- 
able desire of getting through with 
all the sights of the Capital within the 
period that the contract specifies, will not 
fail to assign a fraction of his time to the 
study of that branch of the federal govern- 
ment which is to be inspected from the gal- 
lery of the House of Representatives. He 
will want naturally to tell the people at 
home how ** our member " compares with 
the rest. In the capacity of a constituent, 
he will have sent in his name by one of the 
doorkeepers to the distinguished man him- 
self. In due time that gentleman coming 
out manifests extraordinary dehght at see- 
ing him, shakes hands cordially, asking 
" Now, what can I do for you ? " and closes 
the interview promptly by putting into his 
hand a card for presentation to another 
doorkeeper in the upper regions, which 
card is an open sesame to the members' gal- 
lery. Our friend goes up in the elevator, 
proud to think he has been complimented 
thus handsomely; and fully satisfied that 
148 



Orders of the Day 



149 



the Honorable Mr. A., whatever his views 
on the tariff, is at heart a good man. 
* As the spectator surveys the scene be- 
neath him, how multitudinous and varied 
are the thoughts and emotions that crowd 
upon him, especially if he has brought a 
guide-book along. At first, he is bewil- 
dered, and loses himself in admiration at 
the animated scene below. It is Hke 
an open beehive, he fancies. Perhaps he 
muses over the curious revelation that a 
majority of the heads upon which his gaze 
for a moment rests are nearly, if not wholly 
bald; and he is at a loss to conceive w^hy 
a head that is busied with making laws 
should lose thatch in the process. The 
ferment beneath him is unintelligible. It 
strikes him as singular, for example, that 
yonder elderly gentleman, respectable, al- 
most dignified in looks, should be permit- 
ted to work himself into a state of frenzy, 
with nobody to take notice of what he 
is saying. Confusion seems to reign, sev- 
eral men on their feet, all talking at the 
same moment, while the great body of the 
members keep on reading newspapers, or 
writing letters, or look around in the most 
unconcerned manner possible. Occasion- 
ally some one contributes a Httle more 
noise by clapping his hands for a page to 
run to him, the entire scene being an odd 
mixture of tempest and indifference, that 
our friend can make nothing of, and finds 



The gallery 



ISO THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

impossible to reduce to description. The 
stout red-faced man, who with an air of au- 
thority stands behind the desk, keeping up 
a lively rat-tat with a small hammer, is (so 
stranger in the next row says) the 
Speaker pro tern. From a gallery point of 
view the looker-on fears that the Speaker 
pro tern, has never had experience at keep- 
ing school, or he would insist upon less of 
the go-as-you-please style in front. 

Presently there ensues a moment of 
quiet ; and looking for the cause our excur- 
sionist sees two men standing in the aisle 
near the centre door, just inside the rail. 
One holds an armful of great, white papers, 
of which he seems only too willing to be 
rid. He is a messenger from the other end 
of the Capitol. After having bowed to the 
Chair, he makes it known that he is charged 
with an announcement of what his employ- 
ers, the Honorable Senate, have been do- 
ing. In a clear tone, he recites, galloping 
like a thoroughbred through the titles, that 
the Honorable Senate have passed this, 
that, and the other bill. Then, as he hands 
over the bundle to the House official at his 
side, he executes a wonderful conge, that 
implies no end of profoundest respect for 
this co-ordinate branch of the legislature, — 
and takes his elegant departure. The 
House official, with a firm tread, comes 
down the aisle and passes the bills over to 
the clerk, who lays them, after a fashion no 



Orders of the Day 151 

less solemn, upon the Speaker's table. The 
ceremony is the occasion for a not ungrate- 
ful pause. 

"^ This over, the buzz and clatter start up 
again. Little of what is said (or attempted 
to be said) is our eager listener likely to 
catch. He is sorry to lose so much, — for 
he would Hke to take it home with him 
Nothing, so he fancies, would furnish a 
more welcome staple for conversation at 
the village post-office, while awaiting the 
sorting of the mail — than some of these 
wise sayings fresh from the lips of leading 
statesmen, could he only carry away sam- 
ples, and be able to affirm that with his own 
ears he had heard them uttered. In a few 
moments, our friend's observation fixes it- 
self upon a tall man near the front who ex- 
tends a forefinger authoritatively, and ejac- 
ulates in a shrill voice, " Regular order — 
regular order." Magic words these appear 
to be, for they are reiterated by others ; and 
of a sudden the sea of almost angry con- 
tention grows smooth and calm ; or, as 
some writers prefer to say, when they em- 
ploy this stock figure of speech — " the bil- 
lows subside." 

"^ The regular order means the order of 
business prescribed by rule to be pursued 
each day. If there were not a regular 
routine fixed for the disposal of business, 
nobody could tell what might become of 
a session. Time would be worse than 



More 
turbulence 



A needful 
program 



152 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



How it 

-WO-rks 



thrown away. The order of business, for 
instance, requires that Fridays shall be set 
apart for the consideration of a certain class 
of bills ; or that, on the second and fourth 
Mondays of the month, it will be in order 
to take up bills from a certain committee. 
An order of the day, the reader perceives, 
is just as necessary to a legislature, as a 
" Notice to Guests " is to a hotel-keeper, 
who has it fixed on the bedroom doors to 
tell the traveller what to do with his jew- 
elry, his dog, his children in arms, gas after 
midnight, and other perplexities. It is 
found to be of unspeakable advantage to 
members to be advised beforehand what 
subjects are to come up for deliberation at 
particular hours. Under such an arrange- 
ment, A. may wait till the night before, 
to put the finishing touches to his great 
speech. B., on the other hand, whose con- 
stituents care nothing for A., or his great 
speech, can get safely out of range, being 
warned in season of what is going to hap- 
pen. 

* To call for the regular order, then, is to 
ask the presiding officer to switch ofif, so to 
speak, upon a '' siding " the subject-matter 
before the House, and leave open the main 
Hne for a discussion of the measure that a 
previous order has assigned, or that shall 
have come along as unfinished business. 
Some matter of more than usual impor- 
tance may have been set down as the 



Orders of the Day 



153 



Special order of the day and hour that has 
now arrived. There need be no fear that 
the date will be overlooked. The clerk, 
with the aid of a patent calendar, attends 
to that. 

* By virtue of the previous vote, a subject 
assigned specially takes precedence of all 
others ; that is to say, a motion to proceed 
to the consideration of that subject is a 
privileged motion. When the hour arrives, 
a motion to take up the subject must be 
made; for although the House two weeks 
ago was of opinion that it would like to dis- 
cuss the Fog-signal bill on Thursday, the 
29th, at one o'clock p.m. precisely, it may 
not be of the same opinion still. There 
may be weighty reasons why the House is 
not disposed to lay to one side the attractive 
subject of convict labor, now engaging its 
attention, and take up a bill that has not so 
much politics in it. Whatever be the rea- 
son, should the majority happen not to be 
of the humor, they will vote down a motion 
to proceed to the order of the day. When 
this occurs, the order of the day stands dis- 
charged ; and business with which the 
House was occupied at the time the motion 
was made to proceed with the order of the 
day, continues in order, and is entitled to 
be disposed of. 



Comes to the 
front 



CHAPTER XXVII 



ORDER 

Gentlemen who are through emptying their revolvers will please 
come to order. 

-THE CHAIR. 

IN his Manual of Parliamentary Prac- 
tice, Mr. Jefferson remarks aptly: 
" There are several questions which, be- 
ing incidental to every one, will take the 
place of every one, privileged or not; to 
wit, a question of order arising out of any 
other question must be decided before that 
question." To sustain this lucid proposi- 
tion the author cites Hatsell, volume two, 
page eighty-eight. I see no reason what- 
ever to doubt that Messrs. Hatsell and Jef- 
ferson are right, and all the more readily do 
I fall into line, when I observe the late Mr. 
Gushing moving up and occupying exactly 
the same position. 

* We expect naturally a good deal from a 
presiding officer. One quality at least the 
pubHc have a right to demand, and that is- 
promptitude and firmness in keeping those 
before him in order. This is what he is 
paid a salary for. He must preserve order, 
without debate, or parley. The very first 
moment he detects a violation of a rule of 
the House, that moment he must act, just 
as a locomotive engineer, dashing around 
154 



Order 



155 



a curve, must work the throttle the instant 
that he sees a cow on the track. A mem- 
ber, who knows that a breach of order has 
been committed, may rightfully insist that 
the rule appHcable thereto shall be en- 
forced. He may rise in his place, and by 
addressing the Chair, call another member 
to order ; i.e., ask the Speaker to declare the 
offender out of order. In performing this 
office the breast of member number one is 
supposed to be palpitating with a sense of 
duty to his country, and to the Constitu- 
tion. 

* Where it is apparent that a member has 
overstepped the line, no inquiry can be 
raised as to the duty of the presiding officer. 
Circumstances, however, sometimes render 
it doubtful whether the conduct complained 
of does in reality violate the rules. This 
inquiry, as the reader surmises, is itself a 
question of order. For the time being it 
supersedes the consideration of the subject- 
matter, out of the discussion of which it has 
arisen. The House, therefore, lays aside 
for the time being the business with which 
it is occupied, and requires all hands to con- 
centrate attention upon the point of order. 

* The practice in some quarters is for the 
presiding officer himself to decide the ques- 
tion, subject of course to an appeal; while 
in other bodies it is made the duty of the 
Chair to submit the question to a vote. In 
the House of Representatives, at Washing- 



Is it a breach? 



TJiey go 
right ahead. 



156 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



On the jump 



ton, a point of order that a proceeding is in 
violation of the honor, dignity, or privilege 
of the House, is a question not for the 
Speaker, but for the House itself to deter- 
mine. Where it is left to an assembly to 
pass upon the subject, the question may 
be debated; v^hile debate, as a matter of 
course, is allowed upon an appeal taken 
from the ruling of the Speaker, upon a 
point of order. Debate, I need scarcely re- 
mark, must be confined strictly to the in- 
quiry v^hether a breach of the rules has 
been committed. Those v^ho favor the 
House with their views responsive to this 
inquiry, have no right to discuss the main 
question, out of which the point of order 
has arisen. 

* It has already been said that the presid- 
ing officer must rule upon a point of order, 
without debate. This saves time. *' Use- 
less discussion," says an acute writer of an 
essay on Schopenhauer, " is a waste of 
words." When the Chair is satisfied that 
the point of order is well taken, the Chair 
promptly sustains it; when the Chair is 
satisfied that it is not well taken, the Chair 
overrules it. Such is the uniform practice. 
An occasion may arise where the Chair 
finds itself in the midst of grave doubts. 
Upon an emergency he may call to his aid 
the opinion of individual members, who are 
able, perhaps, to refer him to previous de- 
cisions with which he may chance to be not 



Order 



157 



familiar. The presiding officer, if he so 
choose, can refer the question to the House 
in the first instance for its decision. 

* Some good people are so fixed in their 
own way of thinking that it is impossible 
for them in the remotest degree to conceive 
how anybody who differs from them can 
be right. At times a man endowed with 
adamantine firmness manages to get him- 
self elevated to the rank of a legislator ; and 
he takes his peculiar habits along with him 
when he goes up to the Capitol. Should 
he have the gift of speech-making, it is 
more than likely that the session will not 
have gone far before this individuality of 
his becomes distinctly visible. Possibly 
some question arises upon which he and 
the Speaker do not agree. To guard 
against such a catastrophe, the law pro- 
vides that an appeal may be taken from the 
ruling of the Chair. This provision is not 
framed, however, for the exclusive benefit 
of those who are rock-bedded in their con- 
victions ; it is meant to meet the case of 
possible error, into which even the ablest 
presiding officer m.ay fall. 

* Hence it may be said in general that a 
member who beHeves that the conclusion 
reached by the presiding officer is not well- 
founded, has the right to appeal from his 
decision. Upon taking an appeal the form 
in which the question is put usually is. 
Shall the ruling of the Chair stand as the 



Firmness- 
large 



Appeal 



'Human 
nature 
again 



May get in 
a word 



158 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

decision of the House? As we have just 
seen, the question is open for debate. It 
affords a fine opportunity for those who are 
crammed full of the learning of the law par- 
liamentary to display an easy superiority 
over their fellows. 

* Of course, the natural inclination of an 
assembly is to side with the Speaker, upon 
an appeal from his decision upon a point of 
order. That distinguished official is the 
choice of the majority. He has been se- 
lected for the honored position because of 
his ability. Aptitude at applying the rules 
had already rendered him conspicuous as a 
leader upon the floor. Daily experience in 
the Chair counts for a great deal. He has 
trained himself to a familiarity with the law 
parliamentary. He buys the new books. 
Besides, he makes a heavy draft upon the 
Library for literature bearing on the sub- 
ject. All of which tends to render it highly 
probable that when the Speaker decides a 
point, he is right. But there are cases, of 
course, where his conclusions are found up- 
on close examination to be incorrect. Or, 
it may happen that a ruling is made while 
the Speaker himself is not in the chair, and 
the decision called in question is that of 
some member who is not so well grounded 
in the practice of the House. 

* It is open to the Chair to take part in a 
debate upon an appeal ; and he may support 
his decision by argument, setting forth the 



Order 



159 



grounds more explicitly, and citing the 
authorities. I have never myself spent 
much time presiding over assemblies, but 
upon general principles, I should imagine 
that the man who does so is somewhat sen- 
sitive about appeals, and that he does not 
enjoy having his rulings reversed. Reso- 
lute, energetic men excel as Speakers — 
such as Julius Caesar, Catherine of Russia, 
Oliver Cromwell, and Andrew Jackson. 
* An appeal may be laid upon the table. 
The usage has obtained in Congress of sus- 
taining the decision of the Chair by laying 
the appeal on the table, as the quickest dis- 
position to be made of it; for under the 
rules a motion to lay on the table must be 
decided without debate. In the Senate 
of the United States the presiding officer 
may decide a question of order without de- 
bate, or he may submit it to the Senate. 
From all of which it is to be gathered that 
the object of rules of procedure is to secure 
prompt decision on points of order, they 
being merely incidental in their nature, and 
designed to facilitate the transaction of 
business in an orderly way, and not to ob- 
struct it; and, further, that advantage 
comes of leaving a considerable latitude to 
the good sense and deliberate judgment of 
the presiding officer. 



remedy 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



READING PAPERS 

He that knows anything, knows this in the first place, that he 
need not seek longjor instances of his own ignorance, 

-LOCKE. 

THE law parliamentary acts upon the 
theory that the representative of the 
people hungers and thirsts after de- 
tails, the more of which he gets the sharper 
grows his appetite. Thus can we account 
for bulky documents, in solid type ; re- 
ports elaborate, and well-nigh interminable ; 
statistics and estimates, maps, diagrams, 
exhibits, balance-sheets, and the like. 
Hence come investigations, helped forward 
by the aid of stenography, page after page 
of explanations, vindications, counter-alle- 
gations, and what not, all designed to il- 
luminate dark recesses of the legislative 
mind, and store it with a clarified product. 
The government printing-ofTfice keeps its 
fast steam-presses running day and night 
to supply the cravings of the congressman. 
Yet, in spite of this lavish expenditure, 
members are forever taking the floor and 
beginning with the remark, " I rise, Sir, for 
information." 

* Before a member can be compelled to 

vote upon a proposition, he has the right 

to have any papers thereto appertaining 

i6o 



Reading Papers 



i6i 



which have been laid before the House, or 
referred to a committee, read at least once. 
He may go to the clerk's desk and read 
papers as they come in ; or, by applying to 
the Speaker, he may obtain an order for the 
clerk to read them aloud in open session. 
All this is no more than saying that papers 
laid before the House are open to the in- 
spection of every member, and that their 
contents are not to be concealed. Or, in 
other words, whenever a member asks to 
have a paper read, not for purposes of de- 
lay, but for his information, the assembly 
will ordinarily grant a request so reason- 
able ; and the Speaker will direct the paper 
to be read, unless objection be made. 
Should anyone object, the question is put. 
* In the olden time, before it had grown 
to be a custom to send bills to the printer, 
and when there was not very much work 
to be done, all bills were read aloud at three 
separate stages.^ By no other method 
could members be expected to find out the 
text of a bill. But now so innumerable are 
the bills and resolutions that pour upon the 
clerk's desk that nobody cares if they be 
kept enveloped with a profound silence. 
There is no estimating how much wear and 



1 " Such parleyings or consultations — always two in number in 
regard to every matter, it would seem, or even three ; one sober, 
one drunk, and one just after being drunk — proving of extreme 
service in practice, grew to be Parliament, with its three readings, 
and what not." Carlyle's " Frederick the Great," vol. i (1859), 
page 612. 



Reading of 
bills 



i62 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



We ain 
please 



tear of a reading-clerk has been saved by 
the invention of printing. In order to pro- 
vide against the loss of time that might 
otherwise ensue, it is the usage of many 
assemblies to accomplish the "first and sec- 
ond reading of a bill, by an actual reading 
of the title only. Some States, by way of 
safeguard, have inserted a provision in their 
constitutions that a bill shall include but 
one subject only, which shall be expressed 
in its title. The constitutions of a few 
States, however, make it imperative that 
every bill shall be read in full three times 
before its passage. 

'^ Where it is the custom simply to an- 
nounce a title, any member who expresses 
a desire to have the contents of a bill read 
at length for his information, will be grati- 
fied, as a matter of course. Generally, 
however, members find themselves able to 
curb their curiosity ; at least, they are con- 
tent to wait twenty-four hours until they 
can consult a printed copy. To be sure, it 
will happen sometimes that an indiscreet 
brother may arise with the purpose of in- 
troducing a bill, whose terms as soon as 
disclosed would be considered by the whole 
House as highly objectionable. In such a 
case no time is lost before a reading of the 
bill is demanded by some member, in order 
to put a quietus upon it. 



CHAPTER XXIX 



SUSPENSION OF THE RULES 

N&y yet at eve his note suspended. 

— COWPER. 

WE have had occasion hitherto to 
inform ourselves that a bill, reso- 
lution, or motion, when once 
launched, goes beyond the control of him 
who starts it, so that he cannot withdraw it 
from the consideration of the assembly, ex- 
cept upon leave obtained for the purpose. 

* It is an idiosyncrasy of some people that 
no sooner do they set a piece of work to 
one side and pronounce it complete, than 
they fancy they see where they can improve 
it greatly. Let a man of this stamp intro- 
duce a bill or motion into an assembly, and 
the moment it has gone out of his hands, he 
sees, as clearly as the noonday sun, where 
a stroke of the pen would improve the 
wording. In ordinary cases, if the mover 
of a bill asks leave to change its phraseol- 
ogy, it is granted as a matter of course. 
No one cares to object. But the principle 
remains, as stated, that the mover of a bill 
or motion may not withdraw it, or alter its 
terms, unless by unanimous consent, or un- 
less upon motion a vote is had to that ef- 
fect. 

* Our House of Representatives at Wash- 
ington allows a member to withdraw a bill, 

163 



Withdraw- 
ing 



i64 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Clear7n^ 
the vjay 



or motion, at any stage before the question 
is decided, or amended, except after the 
previous question has been seconded; in 
fact, the House is rather pleased to have 
him do it. Instances have been known un- 
der the operation of this Hberal provision, 
where a bill has been withdrawn entirely, 
and yet nobody has seemed to miss it. The 
reason for withdrawal is entered usually 
upon the journal ; and it appears not infre- 
quently that a new bill is introduced at once 
thereafter to cover the ground. 
* No matter how wholesome a rule of pro- 
cedure may be, cases will from time to time 
arise, when, though applicable, it had best 
not be enforced. Unforeseen events, or 
pecuHar circumstances, may justify a tem- 
porary change of the rules. Surely it 
ought not to be expected of a legislative 
body that it will everywhere, and at all 
times, live up to its standing rules, regard- 
less of consequences. On the contrary, a 
common practice obtains to suspend the 
rules upon occasion by unanimous consent. 
It is a convenient practice, the result being 
that the assembly goes ahead, and deals 
with the situation, precisely as though no 
such rule had existed. This method is re- 
sorted to when a very large majority are 
known to favor an immediate disposition 
of a bill or a resolution, which, by reason of 
a rule whose operation it is proposed to 
suspend, is not in order at the time. 



Suspension of the Rules 



165 



* Unanimous consent is a happy state for 
an assembly to get into — a sort of parlia- 
mentary honeymoon, so to speak. Where 
all hands work together, business can be 
dispatched at a merry rate. '* Is there ob- 
jection?" asks the Speaker, scarcely stop- 
ping to have the query answered. " The 
Chair hears none, — there is none " — and 
that functionary, rattling off the formula at 
the highest rate of speed consistent with 
the dignity and grandeur of his elevated 
office, sends bill after bill through the legis- 
lative hopper. Such felicity further resem- 
bles the honeymoon in that it is likely not 
to last long. 

* In order to effect a suspension of the 
rules, it is necessary that a motion be made ; 
and, according to the rule prevailing in 
many assemblies, be carried by a two- 
thirds vote. Some bodies require that 
three-fourths of the members voting shall 
favor it. In case the motion fails, it cannot 
be renewed upon the same day, except 
some business shall have interv^ened ; or 
unless the new motion be varied in terms 
from the former. This restriction seems 
fair. An assembly that has said distinctly 
that it does not wish to suspend a rule, 
ought to be let alone on the subject, at least 
long enough for a breathing spell. I do 
not hesitate to lend to this feature of the law 
my hearty approval. 

* In the House of Representatives at Wash- 



H ale yon 
days 



Nick of time 



i66 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A remi 
niscence 



ington, a motion to suspend the rules can 
be entertained only on the first and third 
Monday of the month, or during the last 
six days of the session. A motion to sus- 
pend the rules, my readers will be pleased 
to hear, is not debatable; nor can it be 
amended ; nor laid on the table, nor post- 
poned indefinitely ; nor can the vote there- 
on be reconsidered. At least, this seems to 
be the idea entertained of it in the columns 
of the Congressional Record. 
* Memory brings fondly back the fact that 
while I was getting my floggings, and the 
rest of my education along with the other 
boys, in the old brick school-house on the 
hill, it was a pleasing custom for us young 
gentlemen, when the master, upon being 
called to the door, had concluded to step 
out into the hall for a moment, — it was our 
custom, I say, to transact a good deal of 
miscellaneous business inside, by unani- 
mous consent, under a suspension of the 
rules. 



CHAPTER XXX 



Truly, there is tmich to be said t 



both sides. 
-FIELDING. 



THE assembled Solons, we will sup- 
pose, have at last reached the point 
where all is in readiness for debate 
to begin in downright earnest. The house 
is animated with one stirring purpose ; it 
wants to get to work. Somebody has led 
off already by taking the floor, and offering 
a resolution, which he sends to the desk for 
the clerk to read. The clerk has begun to 
read it aloud. 
* In theory a debate consists of a free and 
full interchange of opinion, with plenty of 
room for diverse expressions and ample 
time for enlarging thereon. The law de^ 
tects no inequality among members, as re- 
gards intellectual capacity, wisdom, and 
talent. A subject combes up for discussion 
Since all are equal, each member is entitled 
to take the floor, and state his views. We 
have more than once had occasion to ob 
serve, however, that life is short. A Hmit 
must be set to the time that shall be em^ 
ployed in the ventilation of opinions; as 
well as to the frequency with which one 
gentleman may favor the others with his 
remarks. 

167 



What debate 
is supposed 
to be 



i68 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Brevity 



* It has taken years of experiment to hit 
upon a plan whereby debate in an assembly 
may be suffered to go on so as to eUcit the 
opinion of many, and yet save the time of 
the House from being wasted in tiresome 
talk. To a certain extent, it is safer to err 
on the side of too much rather than of too 
little freedom ; for the public interest is best 
served when a measure is open to be dis- 
cussed from various standpoints, — its mer- 
its extolled by those who favor, and its de- 
fects pointed out by such as oppose it. 
This, too, even where the speaker is not 
sure that he is making himself understood, 
or even where he does not understand the 
question very well himself; for the chief 
benefit of discussion is plainly that it sets 
everybody to finding out what he thinks 
about the subject; and opens a possible way 
to thinking correctly. 

* In applying the rule to limit the time of a 
speaker, a narrow margin is left within 
which the presiding ofBcer can display not 
a little tact. When an occupant of the 
floor appears to be impressing his hearers 
favorably, is sticking to the point, and mak- 
ing a sound argument, the Chair may fitly 
hesitate to break him off in the middle of a 
sentence, in order to announce that the 
gentleman's time has expired; the favor of 
a fraction of a minute may be granted. 
Whereas, should the time be occupied by 
one who seldom is known to offer anything 



Debate 



169 



in particular worth hearing, it seems emi- 
nently fair that others should have their 
turn ; the assembly expects the Chair to 
look to it that the hammer drops upon the 
second. A presiding officer should be keen 
to note from the row of faces before him 
the difference between an aspect of genu- 
ine interest, and a half-suppressed yawn. 
Where a member is cut off short before he 
has fairly made his point, the House is dis- 
posed not unfrequently to present him with 
a few more minutes, by unanimous consent. 
This is accomplished by a motion, a gra- 
cious suggestion, by the way, to come from 
an opponent. 

* Though the presiding officer is styled the 
Speaker, he is not expected to take the 
floor and make a speech. He stands ex- 
cused. It has been thought that it is 
enough for him to be obliged to look after 
the brethren who are engaged in that ardu- 
ous duty. Inasmuch as the Speaker is re- 
garded as the servant of the whole House, 
it is considered proper that he should hold 
himself aloof from controversy. The Pres- 
ident of the Senate of the United States 
does not participate in debate. But John 
Adams, in the first Congress, we are told, 
used to make frequent speeches, in positive 
terms, too, in the body over which he pre- 
sided.^ When the Speaker throws a cast 

* " Up now got the Vice-President, and forty minutes did he 
harangue us from the chair." Journal of William Maclay, 27. 



Does not 
spaak 



A cross the 
water 



170 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

ing vote, he may, if he choose, give his rea- 
sons. This modest step in the direction of 
oratory custom sanctions upon the ground 
that his speaking is not in any sense a 
harangue designed to influence votes, is not 
taking part really in the debate. The 
Speaker is human, Hke the rest of us. Per- 
haps, were he to take sides v^ith either party 
in the discussion he might be tempted in 
the heat of debate to enforce the rules less 
strictly against them, than against their op- 
ponents. Still, there is no canon of the law 
legislative that in terms forbids the Speaker 
from participating in debate, if he sees fit ; 
and in this country he sometimes, though 
not often, takes the floor. Upon such an 
occasion, the Speaker calls a member tem- 
porarily to the chair. 

* In Parliament, the Speaker may of right 
speak to matters of order; and though he 
is to be heard first (out of respect to the 
office) he is not permitted to talk upon 
any other subject. That august personage, 
though not at liberty to resign his office for 
the time being into the keeping of a mem- 
ber, and go down upon the floor to mingle 
with his fellows, may at any time state from 
the chair facts that are peculiarly within his 
knowledge ; or, if he think it worth while, 
he may announce his reasons for a ruling 
from which an appeal has been taken. So 
our British friend does not hold such an 
irksome position after all. 



Debate 



171 



* As for other legislative bodies, the prac- 
tice is uniform that all who have remarks 
to offer are expected to address themselves 
to the Chair. A member may be design- 
ing to utter something that ^n\\\ interest no- 
body but his constituents at home ; neither 
the Chair, nor anybody else present, cares 
a brass farthing to hear him, but this cir- 
cumstance makes no difference in the 
modus operandi of starting off. So when a 
messenger comes over from the other 
House to announce what that House has 
been doing, he stands in the aisle, and waits 
quietly until the Speaker shall throw a 
friendly nod in his direction. Everybody 
has to recognize the Speaker before the 
Speaker will recognize him. Speakers are 
punctilious in this respect. 

* A member who purposes to take the floor 
arises in his place, and ejaculates the words 
" Mr. Speaker." It is then his duty to re- 
frain from entering upon a course of re- 
marks until the Speaker has signified a 
recognition. After once having broken 
ground, there is no objection to his taking 
his eye off the Speaker, and turning around 
so as to impart the ardor of his countenance 
to his fellows on either side, or even to the 
rear, if by this means he can further the 
work of conversion. 

* Custom has ordained that in the House 
of Commons a Quaker is allowed to speak 
covered. During the early days of Con- 



Tke way 

tJtey do it 
elsewhere 



The polite 
method 



Apparel 



172 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



'^ No smok- 
ing on these 
premises '' 



gress, it seems that members used to sit in 
the House of Representatives with their 
hats on, after the immemorial practice of 
the Commons. But wearing hats indoors 
is an observance that disappeared long ago 
upon this side of the water, it being the 
Pan-American idea that hats, canes, um- 
brellas, and overcoats, not appearing to be 
necessary instrumentalities of legislation, 
should be stored in the cloak-room. In- 
deed, a rule of the House of Represent- 
atives at Washington provides that during 
the session of the House, no member shall 
wear his hat. 

* Even in England there are times when 
the Commons are good enough to take off 
their hats. Such an instance occurred at 
the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, 
when, on the day after the House had met 
to take the oath of allegiance to the new 
sovereign, Lord John Russell appeared at 
the bar of the House, charged with a mes- 
sage from the Queen. There was a cry of 
" Hats off," and all the members uncov- 
ered. A little incident like this serves to 
show that, when it comes to doing the cor- 
rect thing, our English cousins are not such 
bad fellows after all. 

* Another inhibition is that a member must 
not smoke upon the floor of the House, for 
the reason perhaps that, under the soothing 
influence of pipes and cigars, now and then 
a question would be lost in clouds of to- 



Debate 



173 



bacco, and debate might run the risk of 
quietly subsiding into pointless chit-chat.^ 
Nor are members allowed to pass in front 
of a fellow-member who is speaking. With 
these few salutary hints as to deportment, a 
Congressman is left free to regulate his 
manners at the Capitol just like other peo- 
ple, subject to the Constitution with the 
amendments thereto, and all laws and mu- 
nicipal regulations now in force in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

* Let me close this chapter by saying a 
word about *' unanimous consent." It 
may surprise the reader, seeing that few 
days of a session pass that unanimous con 
sent is not asked for, to learn how small is 
the space that is devoted to a discussion of 
the subject of unanimous consent in works 
upon parliamentary law. Any young man 
who has started to obtain the unanimous 
consent of a family, to be allowed to marry 
into it, knows something of the difficulties 
that lie across the path. When unanimous 
consent is required of an assembly in order 
to introduce a motion, or to adopt a prop- 
osition, no member will be heard to argue 
in the negative. I am led here to remark 
that it is no proof of greatness that a man 



1 The reader may possibly be reminded of Carlyle's chapter in 
the "Life of Frederick the Great," upon the Tabagie or Tobacco 
Parliament, as he calls it, of Frederic William, "The substitution 
of tobacco smoke for Parliamentary eloquence is by some held to 
be a great improvement." Vol. i (ed. 1859), 610. 



Obvious 
enough 



174 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

can be counted on to distinguish himself by 
objecting when not a single other member 
does. He may imagine that it is ; but the 
opinion of what the French call tout le 
monde, is the other way. 



CHAPTER XXXI 



DEBATE {Continued) 

Great words in the House on Saturday. 

-PEPYS' DIARY. 

A HOUSE, I make bold to remark, can 
do nothing without '' a floor." In- 
deed three articles are essential to the 
carrying forward of legislation, namely, the 
gavel, the table, and the floor. How to get 
the floor is the first lesson an aspirant for 
fame in the political arena has to learn ; the 
next, how to hold it. When he has at last 
gained recognition from the Speaker, and 
" got the floor," he has a right to congrat- 
ulate himself upon having acquired a tan- 
gible piece of property. 
* A member is not to be dispossessed of the 
floor easily, that is, if he be on his guard, 
I need not assure my fellow-countrymen 
that there are times when to have the floor 
is a great advantage ; and the holder is not 
going to give up possession until he is 
ready, or unless his time has expired. He 
may, if he see fit, yield the floor temporarily 
for a brother to make an explanation, or to 
submit a motion to adjourn, or postpone; 
or, if in Committee of the Whole, he may 
yield for the Committee to rise ; and if the 
House (or Committee) decide not to pro- 
175 



II 



176 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



ceed in that line, he will, barring accidents, 
get back the floor again. 

* But if, in the goodness of his heart, or in 
the simplicity of his nature, from a belief in 
the righteousness of his cause, or, from any 
other exalted motive he lets go his hold, 
for the purpose of allowing somebody to 
offer, or withdraw a motion, or to make a 
report, he will to his amazement discover 
that his right to reclaim the floor is gone. 
The sensation of having the floor taken 
from under one, is said to be vertiginous. 

* Should it happen (and it does — often 
enough) that two or more members are on 
their legs at the same moment, exhibiting 
symptoms of starting to throw off a speech 
it becomes the duty of the Speaker to select 
which individual of the number he purposes 
to invest for the time being with the pro- 
prietorship of the floor. Frequently it has 
been found convenient to enter beforehand 
into an understanding that a particular 
gentleman shall be recognized, upon rising 
in his place, to the exclusion of others. Such 
an arrangement leads occasionally to won- 
derful optical results, enabling the Chair, 
as it does, to look clean through a stout, 
big-lunged fellow who is clamoring for 
recognition, and to see behind him the 
quiet gentleman standing in what, to an 
ordinary observer from a like direction, 
would appear to be the path of a total 
ecHpse. 



Debate (^Continued) 



177 



* The usage has long prevailed in both 
Houses of Parliament, on occasions when 
several gentlemen are on their feet, of ac- 
cording preference to a new member. 
With us, where the American eagle has ac- 
customed himself and his family to soar in 
a freer atmosphere, no such tenderness pre- 
vails. 

* When we speak of debate, we usually 
refer to that free interchange of views in 
favor of a proposition, or against it, which 
is effected by brief, oral remarks, designed 
to influence votes. They who inflict upon 
their fellow-men long and prosy harangues 
are not debaters. They are bores. Upon 
subjects of large extent and of universal 
importance, where many members desire to 
speak, set speeches, as they are termed, 
may be allowed. There is no precise limit 
fixed for the duration of a speech. The 
longest one on record, in modern times, is 
said to have been made in the legislature 
of British Columbia, by a representative 
named DeCosmos, who to defeat a bill 
spoke uninterruptedly for twenty-six hours. 
I presume that a representative named De- 
Cosmos, or anybody else, would hardly 
talk for that length of time at a stretch, un- 
less he had some object in view. 

* The law parliamentary, it seems, has al- 
ways been disposed to favor a generous 
speech crop. Perhaps it would be nearer 
the mark to say that the law assumes that 



TJte courtesy 
Weshniftster 



1 78 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

every member is capable of making a 
speech. The member himself assumes it 
too. The law does not care who writes the 
speech, so long as a member sees fit to 
make it his own, by coming into the House 
and delivering it. Sometimes we see a 
member so much engrossed with business 
that he cannot spare the time needful for 
the preparation of a speech. Still, he feels 
ambitious to make an oratorical display. 
He therefore sets about accomplishing this 
end through methods purely business-like. 
When a legislator is overwhelmed with 
pressing afifairs of state (so busy in fact 
that he cannot even do the family market- 
ing), what harm is done, if he consult a 
friend, who has a knack of getting together 
at short notice a speech that sounds well? 
If the former can stow away in his memory 
sentences and paragraphs that another has 
written for him, do they not become hisf 
Upon this point the law entertains liberal 
views. 

* Mr. Fox upon one occasion said that " if 
the practice of reading written speeches 
should prevail, members might read 
speeches that were written by other peo- 
ple, and the time of the House be taken up 
in considering the arguments of persons 
who were not deserving of their attention." 
This criticism, it must be confessed, looks 
like an intimation that parties outside of 
the House of Commons could not prepare 



Debate (^Continued) 



179 



SO choice an article by way of a speech as 
the members themselves. However true 
this may have been in the days gone by, 
circumstances, at least on this side of the 
water, have changed materially the condi- 
tion of affairs. From an excess of good 
nature it happens that the law in question 
is practically a dead letter. No sooner 
does a member produce a roll of MS., and 
take up a position with the design premedi 
tated to favor the assembly with its con 
tents, than everybody seems to be seized 
with paralysis, so far as objection is con 
cerned. By a tacit consent the m.ember is 
allowed to proceed. He proceeds. 
* Were I asked by a young man who as 
pires to become influential as a debater to 
offer a grain of advice, I should bid him. 
remember that he ought never to attempt 
making a speech, unless he have some rea- 
son for it. The celebrated John Wilkes 
persisted once in talking in the House of 
Commons, though it was plain that the 
House would not listen to a word he was 
saying. But he had a reason. To a 
friend who insisted that his attempts to be 
heard were fruitless, Mr. Wilkes is said to 
have remarked in an undertone : " Speak it 
I must, for it has been printed in the news- 
papers this half hour." ^ 



^ Brougham' s Historical Sketches. A somewhat similar occur- 
rence is recorded in the annals of Massachusetts legislation. An am-j 
bitious member had written out a speech, and given it to the press. 



i8o THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A gain- 
hint 



* It needs no great wisdom to predict with 
reasonable certainty that the member who 
is jumping up continually to say some- 
thing, — who can never let a debate go on 
without taking part in it, — will soon have 
earned the reputation of being tedious. 
A distinguished English statesman, who 
talked a good deal, wrote the following 
lines, as an epitaph. They are a warning. 
So I quote them : 

" Here, reader, turn your weeping eyes. 
My fate a useful moral teaches : 
The hole in which my body lies 
Would not contain one-half my speeches." 



in advance, to appear in the Boston evening papers. While he 
happened to be called out of the House for a few minutes, the bill 
came up and was passed without debate. The orator hurried back 
to discover that the bill had gone through, and nobody's eloquence 
had been called upon to help it along. His fellow members were 
persuaded to view the situation with much good nature, for they 
let the bill be put back again ; and his speech was delivered after 
all according to program. One can't help liking Boston. 



CHAPTER XXXII 



SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT DEBATE 

Behave yourself before folk. 

-ALEXANDER RODGERS. 

AMONG the improprieties that mem- 
bers are expected to refrain from in 
debate, as we have seen, is that of 
uttering remarks of a personal nature. No 
matter how exciting the topic, or how 
warm the controversy, there must be no 
personal crimination or abuse. Were 
members permitted to attack and vilify 
each other, like political editors, or theo- 
logical disputants, the great object of all 
rules, namely, the speedy transaction of 
public business, would be defeated. Meas- 
ures of urgent importance would encounter 
new delays, and matters generally would 
be brought to a standstill, to await the ad- 
justment of some petty dispute. Men's 
motives would be constantly under the fire 
of criticism, their characters aspersed and 
their words distorted, with the result that 
legislative procedure would degenerate 
straightway into a fracas, instead of, as now, 
occasionally resembling one. 
* To avoid drifting into controversies of a 
personal character, it is forbidden to men- 
tion members by name. A legislator, it 
cannot too often be repeated, is an official 

i8i 



i82 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



How you 
doit 



personage, in whom for the time being the 
private individual is merged. The state 
knows no Brown, no Smith, no Jones, no 
Robinson. When it becomes necessary to 
single out a member for reference, there is 
a plain way open without bringing the 
name of that member to the front. 
* Let me illustrate. Suppose, in the dis- 
charge of your duties, you have plunged 
headlong into the thick of a fight, and are 
going to make a terrific onslaught upon a 
gentleman across the aisle, who has just 
spoken against your bill. You purpose to 
demolish him. You mean to show how 
unfounded are his assertions, how worthless 
his alleged arguments. You are going to 
handle him in a style that shall make him 
wish that he had never been born. The law 
permits you to do all this, but it says per- 
emptorily that while engaged in the enter- 
prise, you must let alone that man's name. 
You can talk at him, and allude to him in 
terms that will let every hearer know per- 
fectly well who is the forlorn, unhappy 
creature that is undergoing scathing tort- 
ure, — but his name must not pass your lips. 
The law wisely provides that a delicate 
periphrasis shall veil the object of your 
animadversion with an ineffable, though 
none the less substantial sanctity. You 
can render him the focus of all eyes, by em- 
ploying a phrase that means him, and no- 
body else, such as " my esteemed friend. 



Something Else About Debate 183 

who last spoke," or " the gentleman who 
has just favored the House with his views," 
etc., or, " the distinguished representative 

from ," or " the honorable member, 

who has succeeded in working himself into 
a state of mind," etc. Any form of words 
will answer the purpose, so long as they 
tend to lift the individual concerned into 
the higher sphere of calm, legislative im- 
personality. 

* Such is the rule. Nothing short of strict 
enforcement at all seasons can be counted 
on to preserve that becoming demeanor 
which should mark the conduct of our 
magnates who make the laws. But truth 
compels me to admit that there have been 
periods in the annals of the Congress of the 
United States of America, where under a 
stress, it may be, of a great public exigency, 
this rule for a brief moment has gone out 
of sight, like an anchor-buoy under the 
waves of a passing tug-boat. Such occa- 
sions are likely to be lost to the searching 
eye of the future historian ; and perhaps it 
is as well that they should be.^ 



' One incident of the kind, I strongly suspect, however, has 
" passed into history." I refer to an occasion in Congress, when 
General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, declined to be in- 
terrupted by Mr. Samuel S. Cox, of New York. The General, 
with a wave of the hand denoting impatience, ejaculated, " Shoo 
fly," and proceeded in the line of his great constitutional argument. 
This reference, borrowed from a popular song of the day, to the 
genial statesman from New York Citj', whom everj'body knew and 
liked as Sunset Cox, was, I need not explain, in palpable violation 
of Jefferson's Manual, of Cushing's Manual of Parhamentary Law, 
and of Mr. Cushing's larger work on the same subject. 



Will 
trattsgress 



i84 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Etiquette in 
the House of 
Lords 



A civil 
tongue 



* My reader will be pleased to learn that 
peers expect to be alluded to by their re- 
spective titular rank, as '' His Grace," " The 
Noble Marquis," and the like. It is an 
ancient custom of the realm, and it has been 
found to work smoothly. The habit, I am 
told, tends to preserve in peers a maximum 
of awe for each other. It may be remem- 
bered, however, that Thurlow, Lord High 
Chancellor of England, once upon a time 
while discussing the right of the lowly born 
to climb into the peerage, astonished one 
of the peers, who went by the name, I be- 
lieve, of the Duke of Grafton, by an out- 
burst of indignation that thrilled Parlia- 
ment, and is to-day thundering around the 
walls of school-houses, wherever the Eng- 
lish language and boys are employed in 
declamation. Though in terms addressed 
as *' The Noble Duke," it was not unpar- 
liamentary in Thurlow, it seems, to charac- 
terize that scion of nobility as " the accident 
of an accident," whether he meant fire, or 
marine, we are not informed. It must have 
been a lesson to Grafton. 

* Everybody will agree that a resort to 
personalities in the conduct of legislative 
business, cannot be too emphatically con- 
demned. It is an offence not only against 
the individual at whom the words are lev- 
elled, but against the dignity of the assem- 
bly itself. Upon such an occasion the 
Chair has a plain duty to perform, and that 



Something Else About Debate 1 85 

is, promptly to check the first step taken in 
the direction of violating the rules. More- 
over, the Chair must be constantly on 
guard, for there is no telling at what mo- 
ment interference may be needed. Men 
get excited sometimes very quickly as well 
as needlessly ; and words will find utterance 
upon the floor, in spite of the best efforts 
of the Chair, words provoking replies that 
deserve rebuke. 

* A scene of this description, which has AppropHate 
been known to come on suddenly even in ''^-^^^^'^« 
the best regulated assembhes, imparts to the 
debate a spicy flavor. It likewise affords 
an opportunity to the newspaper reporter 
to favor the public with specimens of his 
finest work at embellishment. There are 
seasons, it must be confessed, when a House 
lets itself grow careless, possibly owing 
to the weather and overwork. Still, it re- 
mains for the Chair to see to it that spar- 
kling repartee does not go too far ; nor in- 
deed is it always easy to draw the line 
between allowable sarcasm and direct per- 
sonal attack. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 



In black 
and white 



DEBATE discontinued) 

A iring his vocabulary. 

-CURRAN. 

A PRESIDING officer must decide 
upon the spot whether, when one 
member is called to order by an- 
other, there be really a just cause of com- 
plaint. This is a delicate duty that admits 
of no delay; and it calls for whatever wis- 
dom the Chair may happen to have avail- 
able. The tone and gesture accompanying 
a remark may have m.uch to do with its 
true significance, and the Chair ought not 
to be hasty to condemn. While the assem- 
bly is ordinarily disposed to uphold his de- 
cision, it is open to. be appealed from, like 
any other ruling upon a point of order. 

When a member is discovered to be upon 
the brink of uttering disorderly language, 
some one may start up in the " nick of 
time " to check him, and by this means suc- 
ceed in preventing the words from being 
actually spoken. Inasmuch as few of us, 
however, are gifted with the power of di- 
vining with any degree of precision what a 
man in the ardor of debate is going to say, 
obnoxious words may escape into the hall 
before the speaker can be called to order. 
Where the call to order seems to demand 



Debate (^Concluded) 



187 



" heroic treatment," it becomes the duty of 
the clerk to reduce to writing the objec- 
tionable language, as nearly as possible, 
in the very words that have fallen from 
the speaker's lips. The written words will 
then constitute the text, upon which are to 
be based such subsequent proceedings as 
may be found needful. 

* A rule of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives provides that no member shall 
be held to answer, or be subject to the cen- 
sure of the House, for words spoken in de- 
bate, if any other member has spoken, or 
other business has intervened, after the 
words complained of shall have been ut- 
tered, and before an exception to them 
shall have been taken. This is a wise pro- 
vision. It tends to keep Congressmen 
sharply up to their duty, by encouraging 
them to finish up their little misunder- 
standings then and there. . It assigns to the 
deceased past, as the poet neatly recom- 
mends, the duty of attending to its own 
mortuary ceremonials. 

* Gentlemen whose propensities hurry 
them into the thick of the encounter, will 
do well to bear in mind that to render lan- 
guage disorderly, it is by no means neces- 
sary that it should be uttered in debate. 
Words used in any parliamentary proceed- 
ing, as in making a motion, or answering a 
question, stating a fact, or even in reading 
from a book or paper, may prove equally 



Tken and 
there 



Cautionary 



i88 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Cakes and 
ale 



liable to animadversion on the part of the 
House. Nor, in the '' give and take " of 
debate, does it matter whether the objec- 
tionable expressions be spoken boldly ; or 
introduced covertly by innuendo, or in dis- 
guised and mysterious phrase. So long as 
there be a manifest intent to ridicule, or to 
disparage a fellow-member, or to impugn 
his character, the party offending may be 
called to order. Nor can he hope to avoid 
censure by ingeniously incorporating the 
obnoxious words into a case put hypotheti- 
cally. 

In saying this, I will not of course be un- 
derstood as laying down the proposition 
that under no circumstances shall a parlia- 
mentary orator unlimber his battery and 
pour grape and canister into the ranks of 
the opposition ; that he may never ridicule 
an opponent's position, or even allude to 
his personality, in phrase of cutting sar- 
casm. A dull day for the galleries, and for 
newspaper readers, will it prove when a 
rule so rigid as this goes into operation. 
But language which is susceptible of no 
other interpretation than that it is de- 
signed to be personally offensive, will not 
be tolerated, whether it be plain Anglo- 
Saxon, or only a cloud of circumlocution 
and mixed metaphor. Proud and soaring 
spirits of oratorical instincts, who have a 
vein of irony within, would do well to work 
that vein as lightly as possible. 



Debate (^Concluded) 



189 



* Of course, it is to be expected, reader, 
that when you begin to take part in debate, 
you will have the good sense not to allow 
yourself to be found in a muddle of this 
description. Should you, however, plunge 
into one, you will agree that the sooner you 
plunge out of it the better. The quickest 
way out is to retract any remarks, clearly 
not in order, that may give offence, and say 
you are sorry that you should have uttered 
them. This course has the advantage of 
being the manly thing to do ; but as human 
nature is at present constituted, a road 
so hard to travel is not frequented. The 
offender must utter something, sooner or 
later, by way of apology, or he will subject 
himself to the censure of the House or to 
punishment of a graver nature. There is 
much good sense in what has been re- 
marked by the Earl of Sandwich, — a title 
that suggests a quiet moment with the re- 
freshing accompaniment of a glass of 
sherry. " Personal altercations," says 
Sandwich, " always impede public busi- 
ness, answer no one substantial or bene- 
ficial purpose whatever, and are only pro- 
ductive of ill-humor." 

* A fundamental principle governing de- 
bate at every stage is, that the speaker must 
confine his remarks to the question at is- 
sue. He must not ramble. This require- 
ment is kept before the mind of the legis- 
lator usually by means of a clock, with a 



The back 
track 



Stick to the 
point 



190 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



A chance to 
scatter 



large dial, fixed at some conspicuous point 
in the chamber. In extreme cases it is 
easy to apply the rule. Where the di- 
vergence is less marked, it often becomes 
difficult to determine whether a speaker be 
in order. We are not all made alike; one 
man's method of elucidating a subject dif- 
fers from that of his neighbor. For the 
purpose of laying hold of an illustration, a 
speaker may explore a by-path or touch 
upon this or that topic, whose relevancy at 
first may not be obvious. It is reasonable 
to allow a considerable latitude to the range 
of the discussion. If you, my young 
friend, in your efforts at speech-making dis- 
cover yourself as it were " floundering 
around," do not be discouraged. Remem- 
ber Father Taylor, who in a burst of in- 
spiration once cried out from his pulpit, at 
the Sailor's Bethel, " I have lost my nom- 
inative case, dear brethren, but I'm going 
to glory just the same." 

Some people, as already intimated, pos- 
sess the gift of talking at random. A Con- 
gressional orator, whose forte lies in this 
direction, may derive consolation from the 
thought that when it comes to a discussion 
in a Committee of the Whole on the state 
of the Union he is not bound to adhere to 
the question under debate. A glorious op- 
portunity is offered to him for freeing his 
mind, and soaring into the empyrean. He 
is apt to accept the offer. Where a special 



Debate (^Concluded) 



191 



order is pending, however, all debate in the 
committee must be confined strictly to the 
measure under consideration. 

* Most legislative bodies limit by positive 
rule the length of time that a single speaker 
may occupy the floor. As to the number 
of times that a member can be heard upon 
the same question, it is usually provided 
that once shall suffice. The rules of very 
few assemblies allow a member to be heard 
twice. Where one has reported a bill from 
a standing or select committee, he is re- 
garded as having charge of the bill. Be- 
cause of this responsibility, he has a right 
to open the debate, and the further right is 
accorded him, after others shall have con- 
cluded their remarks, of making the closing 
speech. It is only fair that the friends of 
a measure have the chance, before a vote 
is taken, to reply to such objections as may 
have been brought forward against it. 

* The House of Representatives by rule 
provides that no member, with the excep- 
tion just mentioned, shall occupy more 
than one hour in debate upon any question, 
whether in the House or in the committee. 
The provision does not mean that each 
member has a vested right to talk steadily 
for sixty minutes, upon every occasion 
when a measure comes up for discussion. 
Far from it. An hour is a precious com- 
modity, in this great body. A few gentle- 
men, and they because of their exalted po- 



How long-? 



The hour 
and the tnan 



192 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



May I ask 

the 

gentleman a 
question ? 



sition with respect to the bill, are entitled 
among themselves to occupy an hour. To 
the chairman of the committee having 
jurisdiction of the bill, or to the member of 
that committee who has reported it, the 
hour is intrusted ; and that gentleman has 
a right to " farm out " the time. That is, 
he may if he please yield a certain number 
of minutes to this member or to that, for 
getting up and telling the House what he 
knows (or thinks that he knows) about the 
measure. Five minutes is the usual allot- 
ment. The man who is able to compress 
what he has to say into five minutes, who 
can make his point in four minutes and 
three-quarters (leaving fifteen seconds in 
which with an air of leisure to resume his 
seat), is destined sooner or later to be a 
power upon the floor of Congress. 
* Whoever sets himself up for a debater 
must expect to be interrupted every now 
and then by those who are anxious to ask 
questions. Our friend need not feel irri- 
tated, — it is a sign that he is being listened 
to. These guardians of the public weal 
are sure to be on hand, with whom a habit 
of breaking into another man's speech 
is chronic. They mean well ; they are 
patriots, but for their lives they can't help 
interrupting. There are times, it is true, 
when a pertinent question helps to clear the 
atmosphere ; but where one man can ask a 
pertinent question, there will be a dozen 



Debate {^Concluded') 



193 



who do not seem to notice whether their 
questions be pertinent or not ; they keep on 
asking them just the same. 

* A well-worn phrase is *' Mr. Speaker, will 
the gentleman yield for a question ? " If 
the gentleman happens not to be in an af- 
firmative mood (and at times it is wise to 
refuse), he politely but firmly signifies an 
unwillingness to give way. Frequently, 
however, he is conscious that he will come 
out all right, and so he answers with a faint 
smile : " Certainly." The other fires off 
the question, his face wearing a grin of tri- 
umph, as much as to say *' That settles 
him." If the member thus interrupted 
proves equal to the occasion, he either 
sends back a lively rejoinder to the other's 
discomfiture; or else neatly dodging 
around the inquiry, with a passing remark 
quite irrelevant, he goes ahead just as if 
nothing whatever had occurred. 

* Your hearers are always more ready to 
sympathize with you (I am not speaking 
now of political discussions) than with the 
man who would break in upon your line of 
remark. These are the opportunities of- 
fered the keen-witted to get the better of 
their opponents. Only let a reply come 
back on the instant, and the assembly, or 
such part of it as is listening, is disposed to 
accept it as a complete answer. But have 
a care when an old campaigner takes a 
hand at the sport. If you are talking, you 



How to 
interrupt 



The locus 1 
quo 



A contrast 



194 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

will do well to keep a close lookout for one 
of these wary interrupters. In case of sud- 
den attack, there is one mode of warding 
off the adversary that can be recommend- 
e'd ; and that is, to take on an expression of 
superior wisdom, and respond good-nat- 
uredly : " If my friend will only have a little 
patience, he will see how I dispose of that 
question before I get through." 

* While the friends of a measure may at- 
tach importance to the circumstances where 
this or that member stands in reference to 
it, the particular spot where a member 
stands when he lifts up his voice in debate, 
to favor or oppose a measure, is of no con- 
sequence whatever. One may stand at his 
own seat; or, at that of another member; 
or, step into the aisle ; or, if he prefer, he 
can occupy the open space in front of the 
Speaker. The fact is, listening to members 
of Congress in the act of communicating 
their ideas orally, is regarded at Washing- 
ton as such a privilege, that by rule it is 
provided expressly that a congressman may 
do his talking from any place on the floor, 
or from the clerk's desk. Should the place 
selected be a long way off to the rear, one 
of the reporters will hasten toward him, 
note-book and pencil in hand, so that no 
precious utterance may be lost to the coun- 
try. 

* Perhaps it may not be averred that " they 
order this matter better in France," though 



Debate {^Concluded) 



195 



they order it differently there. Members 
of the corps legislatif have not the right to 
harangue each other promiscuously from 
all over the floor; but each in turn, if he 
has anything to offer in the shape of a 
speech, is expected to trip down to the 
front, and mount a raised platform, called 
the tribune. Here he can throw his arms 
about, and get excited in a regular parlia- 
mentary way. Considering the explosive 
nature of French oratory, this regulation 
appears to be a wise precaution, but it is a 
restriction that could hardly become popu- 
lar, should an attempt be made to intro- 
duce it here. In Paris, gentlemen who de- 
sire to join in the debate are required to 
furnish their names in advance to the Presi- 
dent, who at the proper time calls up alter- 
nately first a member favoring, and then 
one opposing, the proposition under dis- 
cussion. 

* Wherever man is in the habit of getting 
the floor, it is an axiom that when he gets 
through — he is to sit down. How many a 
young man of acknowledged talent, start- 
ing out in the morning of life with bright 
prospects who might have had a career 
(and his " picture " in the daily papers) has 
come to disastrous shipwreck, simply from 
not heeding this one short precept. 

* Though occasionally a member, cajoled 
by the sound of his own voice, goes plung- 
ing ahead, to the annoyance of his fellows. 



To he -writ 
in letters 
of gold 



Back-seat 

etiquette 



196 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

it is not etiquette for them to greet his re- 
marks with coughing, jeering, cat-calUng, 
scraping the floor, or any other outward 
and audible sign of discontent. The law 
parliamentary, adopting the theory that 
members all stand on a plane of equality, is 
pleased to take it for granted that the oc- 
cupant of the floor, before he gets through, 
may let fall a grain of wisdom, or impart to 
those around him an idea of value. It fol- 
lows logically that, while exercising his in- 
tellect with a possibility of this beneficent 
outcome, the gentleman who is doing the 
talking must be listened to with respectful 
attention. And yet 



CHAPTER XXXIV 



THE EFFECT OF SPEECHES 



While words, like treacle, trickle from his tongue. 

—THE ROLLIAD. 



THE main object for which American 
citizens give up for a season their 
business of farming, hotel-keeping, 
practising law, etc., and sit together, week 
in and week out, under the dome of a State 
House, or Capitol, is not to accomplish a 
certain amount of talking ; it is to vote, and 
thereby to enact measures into laws. We 
have been considering how useful is debate, 
calling out, as it does, from various quar- 
ters an expression of opinion. Nobody 
will deny that a comparison of views affords 
valuable aid in coming to a proper conclu- 
sion. It is so in every well-regulated pri- 
vate family. A good and thoughtful wife, 
for example, after she and the children 
have decided it, will consent kindly to let 
her husband put in a word as to where they 
had best " go for the summer." 
* At this point I cannot refrain from re- 
marking that the transaction of public busi- 
ness is not due exclusively to the labor of 
the speech-makers. The truth is, the mem- 
ber whose voice is not heard upon the floor 
is often the man who really determines a 
197 



compliment 



deserving 
class 



iq8 the gavel and THE MACE 



P-ublic 

speakers 



The press 



measure's fate. Such a man may congrat- 
ulate himself on never being found in the 
ranks of friends who are guilty of having 
talked a bill to death. Whoever imagines 
that the silent member is not a power, may 
find himself greatly mistaken. The art of 
being silent at the right time is an accom- 
plishment, here as elsewhere, that is worth 
more than a mastery of all the treatises 
on elocution and gesture, ever copyrighted 
from volume one of the speeches of De- 
mosthenes, down. 

* Let me not, however, be suspected of un- 
derestimating the effect of a persuasive 
speech. I would have it brief. So would 
its hearers. And logical. The day of par- 
liamentary oratory is not destined soon to 
pass away. True, under pressure of mod- 
ern methods, the immediate effect of a 
speech in winning votes is frequently un- 
perceived. The legislative mind has al- 
ready been made up, so that logic and elo- 
quence in vain spend themselves to effect 
a change. There is a miscellaneous class 
of questions, purely political in their char- 
acter, where it is safe to count upon every 
man as sure to vote with his party, — a solid 
front. But, this range of subjects aside, 
there remains a wide field where the " sil- 
ver-tongued " orator may to-day practise 
his powers of persuasion with as good a 
prospect of success as in former times. 

* On the other hand, somebody with a 



Tht Effect of Speeches 199 

genius for getting ahead of other people 
has originated the saying that the present 
is the age of electricity. The wires, it is 
plain to see, have worked marvellous 
changes in the methods by which public 
men keep in touch with the people. The 
reporter in the gallery magnifies his office, 
at the expense of the statesman on the floor. 
The newspaper at breakfast usually serves 
a few scanty crumbs from Congress. We 
are expected for the most part to content 
ourselves with a paragraph of comment, 
a dash of personal mention, the merest 
outline of what was done, and little or 
nothing of debate. Be the cause what it 
may, it has now got to be the fashion for 
editors to provide us with the stream of leg- 
islative talk distilled exceedingly fine. 
* Still, apart from all that the newspaper 
may do, or leave undone, there is in Con- 
gress and in every State legislature, a 
chance that words uttered in debate may 
sooner or later reach the ears of the Amer- 
ican people, or attract the notice of a few 
intelligent voters. Besides, the congress- 
man who would arrest the attention of the 
public will not forget that the franking of 
speeches to constituents is a contrivance 
that bids fair to last as long as leather can 
be shaped into mail-bags. That eminent 
statesman of years gone by knew well 
enough what he was doing, when to a re- 
minder that all the seats around him had 



200 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



On to victory 



become empty, he replied, " Sir, I am talk- 
ing for Buncombe." ^ 

* In a previous chapter I have alluded to 
the practice of franking speeches by the 
wholesale, as a custom of American growth, 
that flourishes in the soil of our free re- 
public. The sudden irruption into the 
post-office of a mass of printed matter of 
this description is sure proof that the po- 
litical campaign is opening, — if not already 
upon us. These valuable documents are 
intrusted to the United States mail, in sea- 
son to reach the horny-handed son of toil 
at a critical moment. They stir within his 
manly bosom the fervid glow of political 
zeal, unless the postal clerk makes a mis- 
take, and sends Democratic literature into 
a Republican household, or vice-versa. In 
plain English, these messengers keep him 
straight for the regular ticket. So it is 
that, although an immediate purpose of a 
political harangue upon the floor is to hold 
the party in the assembly well up to the 
alignment, a second and no less important 
object, is to disseminate orthodox political 
doctrine, at all points of the compass, 
through the medium of an executive com- 
mittee, and a legibly addressed wrapper. 
The member, therefore, who can in stirring 
terms praise his own party, and denounce 



^A southwestern county of North Carolina; area 450 square 
miles ; soil, fertile ; excellent pasturage. Noted for raising com, 
rye, wool, tobacco, and this particular member of Congress. 



The Effect of Speeches 



201 



the unrepentant character of the opposi- 
tion, will find his eloquence to be in steady 
demand at regular seasons, so long as po- 
litical parties continue to exist and to fight 
their battles in order to get control of the 
offices. 



CHAPTER XXXV 



PUTTING THE QUESTION 

How quickly men of sense agree .' 
I side with him, who sides with me. 

-ANON. 

READERS who have struggled 
through the later chapters of this 
imperishable work, naturally want to 
learn what happens when a debate is closed. 
I seem to hear them uniting to ask what are 
the several methods by which a House sig- 
nifies its assent to the measure under de- 
liberation, or the reverse. They shall be 
told. 

* Now that members upon the floor have 
got through, the chance comes for the pre- 
siding officer to take a hand. He will pro- 
ceed as quickly as possible to find out what 
may be the opinion of the House on the 
subject. If the debate has lasted for some 
time, he may think it advisable to state the 
question anew in precise terms. The 
standard works on parliamentary practice, 
as well as the cheap editions, agree in say- 
ing that a presiding officer while stating a 
question may remain seated, but for the 
purpose of putting the question he should 
rise, and continue in a standing posture.^ 

1 In view of the fact that the Speaker of the House at Washing- 
ton is obliged to get up and sit down again so many times a day 
Congress has allowed him a salary of $8,000. Other members get 
$5,000. 



Putting the Question 



203 



* The moment a man is elected Speaker, or [Metamorfho- 
President of the Senate, whatever innate ^" 
modesty that he possesses comes to the sur- 
face. He shrinks from making official use 

of the pronoun of the first person. Should 
occasion require him to allude to himself, 
he sinks his individuality, as it were, and 
employs a figure of speech, known in lit- 
erary circles as metonomy, by which he is 
enabled to substitute the arm-chair at his 
desk, for the man who occupies it. This 
explanation (which perhaps I ought to have 
introduced earlier) accounts for the recur- 
rence of such expressions as, '' The Chair 
thinks otherwise " ; " The Chair overrules 
the point of order " ; " The Chair hopes the 
gentleman will see the propriety of resum- 
ing his seat " ; and so on. In the early and 
formative period of legislative customs, a 
Speaker, I dare say, might with equal pro- 
priety have adopted the expedient of identi- 
fying himself with the gavel, or even with 
the mace. It seems, however, that he did 
not. 

* It is a common practice for presiding . 
officers before actually putting a vote toi^ 
enquire " Is the House ready for the ques- 
tion ? " A House rather Hkes to be de- 
ferred to in this manner. The words con- 
vey a flattering intimation that the Chair 
continues to be its humble servant, and 
stands prepared to wait and to endure more 
oratory should the House be of that humor. 



A lit of 
courtesy 



204 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Encouraging 



As a matter of fact, however, the Chair well 
knows that the House is as tired of the talk- 
ing as he is. The polite enquiry, therefore, 
meets with no response save respectful si- 
lence ; unless indeed (as sometimes occurs 
at the close of a debate already too long) 
impulsive voices from different parts of the 
chamber exclaim, — " Question, question." 

* The Chair thereupon announces : " As 
many as are in favor will say ' Aye.' " Af- 
ter a moment's pause, to measure the vol- 
ume of ayes, the Chair continues, " Those 
opposed will say ' No.' " At this, another 
shout arises. Have you ever noticed, gen- 
tle reader, how difficult it is to say " No," 
when for instance you are cornered at a 
church-fair, or In a bar-room? Quite the 
reverse is it, I assure you, on the floor of a 
legislature ; those who answer '* No " do it 
in thunder tones. The noise they succeed 
in creating is far more out of proportion to 
their numbers than that of the affirmative. 
The Chair, however, soon acquires a 
trained ear that can allow for difference in 
lung power. 

* This mode of reaching a result is called 
voting viva voce; a term that would indicate 
that the process was known to the ancient 
Romans. Such is the fact. Some of our 
college-educated young men will, I am 
sure, take a deeper interest in their labor of 
reforming politics, when they perceive how 
slightly our modern form varies from that 



Putting the Question 



205 



which was in daily use in the Roman Sen- 
ate. According to Pliny, it was the custom 
of the Consul presiding to put the question 
to vote as follows : ''Qui haec sentititis in 
hanc partem; qui alia mnnia, in earn partem, 
ite, qua sentitis." ^ 

* The occupant of the chair, as I have said, Keeping- 
has to judge by the ear on which side the ^'''^^' 
larger number is voting. A formula much 
in vogue is — The ayes (or the noes, as the 
case may be) appear to have it; then after 
a slight pause. The ayes (or noes) have it. 
So strong is habit, that even where there 
is a shout of " aye," and no opposing sound 
in the negative, the Speaker will cautiously 
say that the ayes appear to have it, before 
he declares that the ayes do have it. If at 
a loss to determine on which side the pre 
ponderance Hes, the Chair may ask another 
vote by voices, or may call for a show of 
hands. 

* Necessarily there are many motions to 
which the individual member pays scant at- 
tention, content to rest assured that they 
come from committees whose recommend- 
ation is to him a sufficient guaranty that 
they ought to be agreed to. Knowledge 
of this fact may reconcile a constituent to 
the conduct of his representative, when up 
on his visit to the gallery he looks down 
and sees that honorable gentleman, instead 



1 Epistolae, Lib. VIll., ep. 14. 



2o6 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



of actively voting upon every motion as it 
comes up, — absorbed in writing letters, or 
talking and laughing with his brother mem- 
bers, in apparent unconcern of what is go- 
ing on. 

* A solitary voice in the affirmative is 
enough to pass a bill, in cases where no op- 
position exists.^ The larger the body, the 
more is it likely to happen at times that but 
a single member takes the trouble to go 
through the form of saying Aye. Indeed, 
it is not uncommon to hear a feeble 
" Aye " followed by half-a-dozen straggling 
" Noes," and yet the Speaker says the ayes 
appear to have it, and after the usual pause 
announces that the ayes in fact have it. 
When the real sentiment of the House is 
thus readily apparent, it may be said that 
only where a nearly equal division discloses 
itself, or where for some reason it is desired 
to learn just how many are on each side, is 
it thought worth while to take a further step 
for the purpose of ascertaining and an- 
nouncing in precise terms the state of the 
vote. 

* A member who is not satisfied with the 
result as declared by the Speaker, can de- 
mand a division, whereupon the Speaker 



Toward the close of the last century the Duke of Somerset 
divided the House of Lords on the question of eroing to war with 
France. There appeared only himself in opposition to the motion, 
and he afterward caused a medal to be struck to the memory of 
" The Glorious Minority of One." Random Recollections of the 
House of Commons, page 84. 



Putting the Question 



207 



says " A division is called for ; all those in 
favor of the motion will rise and be count- 
ed." After these votes have been enumer- 
ated, the opponents of the motion are called 
up. This performance, I may add, can be 
resorted to at the Speaker's own instance, 
should he find himself in doubt, after a call 
of voices. The purpose of a division, we 
are told, is not to take a vote anew, but to 
ascertain how members have already de- 
clared themselves by voice. Accordingly 
the rule has been laid down that where a 
member gives his vote with the ayes, and 
upon a division goes with the noes, the 
Speaker (his attention being called to the 
fact) will direct that the vote of that mem- 
ber be counted aye. 

* A more elaborate method of accomplish- 
ing the arithmetical task involved, is that 
of counting by tellers. Nobody of men 
now living retains a recollection of the time 
when tellers came into fashion in America. 
We are familiar with that standard parlia- 
mentary anecdote related by Gilbert Burnet 
in his " History of his Own Times " (1680), 
where Lord Grey and Lord Norris (the lat- 
ter being subject to vapors) figure as tellers. 
" A very fat lord coming in. Lord Grey 
counted him for ten, as a jest at first, but 
seeing Lord Norris had not observ^ed it, he 
went on with his misreckoning. So it was 
reported to the House, and declared that 
they who were for the bill were the majority, 



2o8 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



How tellers 
tell 



though it indeed went for the other side." 
The bill, as the reader very likely remem- 
bers, was a strict act, for the due execution 
of the writ of habeas corpus, and its pas- 
sage was a triumph for the cause of lib- 
erty. This playful incident furnishes one 
more illustration of the good that is done 
in this world by the presence of the fat 
man. 

* As a count by tellers consumes no little 
time, and thus may be used for purposes of 
obstructive delay, it is provided generally 
by rule that a certain fixed proportion of a 
quorum must unite in order to justify a de- 
mand for it. In the House of Represent- 
atives, it is one-fifth of a quorum. When 
the House evinces a desire for a count in 
this manner, the Speaker appoints to the 
office two gentlemen, representing the two 
sides of the question. The appointees 
come to the front, and shake hands cordi- 
ally, as two prize-fighters might. This by 
way of indicating how pleased is each to 
have the tete-a-tete, and as a guaranty that 
there shall be an honest count. This in- 
troductory ceremony over, the two plant 
themselves facing each other, like gate- 
posts, far enough apart for members to 
walk between in single file. Then, all who 
vote in the affirmative swarm down into 
the area in front, and begin one by one to 
pass between the tellers, who count each 
member as he goes through. The tellers 



Putting the ^estion 



209 



figure up the total, and report the result at 
the clerk's desk. 

* After the affirmative hosts, and a strag- 
gler or two besides, have gone through, the 
honorable members of a contrary mind are 
expected to pour down the aisle, and in 
similar manner to pass between tellers. 
More arithmetic is applied. The main 
body is disposed of, late-comers are accom- 
modated to the tune of " one more in the 
negative," " two more in the affirmative," 
and so on. A total being reached at last, 
the figures are written down and handed to 
the presiding officer, who declares the vote. 

* The ceremony of taking a vote by tellers 
enables our statesmen to get a little exer- 
cise, and promotes good fellowship by 
bringing those of a like way of thinking 
into close contact for the moment. The 
procedure has the further merit of letting 
everybody present see who it is that is vot- 
ing for, and who against, the measure. 



The Caudine 
Forks 



CHAPTER XXXVI 



YEAS AND NAYS 

Vou were best to call tJtem getterally, man by man, according to 
the scrip. —MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. 

WHERE a vote is divided some- 
what evenly, and the assembly is 
a large one, a resort to tellers is 
a more accurate, and therefore a more sat- 
isfactory method of numbering the voters 
on either side, than is a mere counting by 
the presiding officer, however carefully 
done. Then too it is to be remembered 
that the people outside are interested in the 
record of the vote. The taxpayers want to 
know what is going on. As sovereign 
people they demand to be kept informed 
whether A. voted right; how B. behaved 
when the crisis came ; whether C. dodged, 
or D. did what he promised to do. For the 
purpose of making a record, a contrivance 
known as calling the Yeas and Nays, was 
invented, — a notable feature in the machin- 
ery of legislation. 
A safeguard * The framcrs of the Constitution, keeping 
an eye on the great problem of how to pre- 
serve our liberties, took special pains to in- 
sert in that immortal document a clause 
providing that each House should keep a 
journal of its proceedings ; and that the 
Yeas and Nays of the members of either 



Teas and Nays 2 

House, on any question, should, at the de- 
sire of one-fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal.^ There is no teUing what 
would have become of us, if they had for- 
gotten to attend to this. As it is, a plain 
American citizen can drop into the gallery 
after twelve o'clock, while Congress is in 
session, and generally count upon being 
afforded the pleasure of beholding a mem- 
ber rise, with the air of a statesman dis- 
charging a lofty constitutional function, 
and call impressively for the Yeas and 
Nays. 

* Every member, properly in the House 
when the question is put, has a right to 
vote, and he must cast his vote upon one 
side or the other. Should a member have 
a pecuniary interest in the result of the 
vote, he may by leave of the assembly be 
excused from voting. But everybody else 
must say yes, or no. 

* The right to vote, we ought constantly to 
bear in mind, is not a personal privilege 
that a member may exercise or not, as the 
whim seizes him. Behind the represent- 
ative stands a constituency. A member's 
constituents are alive to the questions of 
the day. They mean to be felt, as well as 
heard from, on the floor. Hence it appears 
that it is no hardship whatever to a mem- 
ber that he is compelled to vote. 



Who may 

vote 



* Article 1, Section 5. 



212 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



" Where was 
/at?" 



Vigilance 



* Being '' properly in the House " is a 
phrase that the great constitutional lawyers 
have had to take under advisement. The 
conclusion they have arrived at is, that it 
means a bodily presence, either in the room 
where the assembly sits, or in some room 
adjacent, reached only by passing through 
the assembly chamber. We perceive, there- 
fore, that a member may be in the build- 
ing, but not in the House. Alike, whether 
working over a bill in his committee- 
room, over a meal in the restaurant, or 
an obtuse constituent in the lobby, he may 
properly be regarded as not in the House. 
In the House of Representatives, at Wash- 
ington, a member, to claim the right to vote 
must have been on the floor of the hall 
when the question was put, and not outside 
any of the doors leading to it. A member 
of a deliberative assembly ought to keep a 
sharp eye on himself, so as to know pre- 
cisely where he is, at least until the hour of 
adjournment. 

*Representatives are not slow to learn how 
vital it is to be promptly on hand when 
the yeas and nays are called. Legislative 
chambers are fitted with wires running to 
electric bells in the committee-rooms, and 
in other retreats, so as to signal to members 
when they are wanted. Often a com- 
mendable energy is displayed to reach the 
floor. It is a legend of the Capitol that, a 
good while ago, an eminent statesman 



Teas and Nays 



213 



chanced at one of these critical moments to 
be seated somewhere in the great, white 
marble building, in the seclusion of a bar- 
ber's chair — his distinguished chin hidden 
under a cloud of lather, and his somewhat 
jaded, but still powerful, intellect passing 
slowly under the soothing influence of ton- 
sorial shop-talk, tempered by the gentle re- 
currence of razor stropping. Word came 
that the fate of a bill of great import to the 
people of his locality was trembling in the 
balance, upon a call of the yeas and nays. 
With a leap from his seat the honorable 
gentleman vanished from view, and speed- 
ing to the scene of action appeared upon 
the floor at the very moment w^hen a single 
vote would snatch the bill from defeat. He 
snatched it. It was a close shave. 
* The practice of '' pairing," it is to be ob- 
served, is not sanctioned by all legislative 
bodies. Where the usage prevails, how- 
ever, the clerk is directed to announce the 
pairs, at least once during the legislative 
day, after he has concluded reading the 
names of all who are recorded as having 
voted. A pair may be general, i.e., upon 
all political questions ; or it may be a special 
pair arranged for a single question only. 
So, it may extend through a considerable 
period, or last but for the day. We owe to 
England the custom of arranging a pair; 
and it has now come into general use upon 
this side of the water. 



214 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



* By a mutual understanding two mem- 
bers who would have voted in opposite 
ways agree that one shall not vote in the 
absence of the other. Such an agreement, 
while it leaves the result unaffected, brings 
into mind the comforting reflection that 
the couple in question need not worry 
about the country at large while they are 
not on the spot to take care of it. Pairs 
were not recognized by the rules at Wash- 
ington, it seems, until the year 1880, the 
second session of the Forty-sixth Con- 
gress. In Parliament pairing has long 
been conducted upon an extensive scale ; 
and absenteeism is a practice so common 
as to excite little or no comment. It is un- 
derstood, however, that pairs are treated 
there as a private arrangement purely, and 
that they are not recognized by any rule. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 



A POINT OR TWO ABOUT VOTING 

Nothing in the world, Trini, said my U-ncle Toby, blowing his 
nose. —STERNE. 

WHEN an assembly is brought in- 
to that frame of mind where it is 
wilHng to sit still and undergo a 
call of the yeas and nays, one would im- 
agine that for once talk would be at an end. 
So it will be, if the previous question has 
been ordered ; but otherwise the subject re- 
mains open for debate until the clerk has 
entered upon the calling of the list, and one 
member at least shall have responded to his 
name. This canon of practice appears to 
owe its existence to a flickering hope that, 
by some miracle, a single grain of wisdom 
can be lodged in the observations of a late 
comer into the field of discussion. So 
potential an influence has the power of 
speech over the imagination of men en- 
gaged in framing laws ! On the other 
hand, let the ponderous machinery of a roll- 
call once be set in motion, and like a pat- 
ented steel time-lock on a safe-deposit 
vault, there is no stopping, until it gets 
through. 

* To break in of a sudden upon the quiet 

humdrum of a call of the yeas and nays, 

even though the purpose be the intellectual 

215 



A wkward 
business 



2x6 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



one of starting up debate afresh, is in the 
eye of the law to commit a serious offence. 
It would lead," beautifully remarks a 
writer, whose name, age, sex, and post- 
ofifice address have escaped my memory, 
" It would lead to almost inextricable con- 
fusion, and indirectly thwart if not defeat 
the will and order of the House." It would, 
indeed. I hope that no gentleman of re- 
fined sensibilities, certainly no American 
citizen, with mind refreshed and invigo- 
rated by a study of '' Parliamentary Law 
in Easy Chapters," would be guilty of so 
gross a delinquency. Besides, it may be 
added that should a question arise, in the 
nature of a point of order, during a di- 
vision, the Speaker is expected to decide it 
peremptorily, subject, of course, to the 
future censure of the House, if the ruling 
be irregular. 

* The practice prevailing, I believe, in both 
hemispheres is, that members within the 
bar of an assembly when a question is put, 
are obliged to vote. This duty is of the 
terms of the contract entered into with 
the people who sent them there. As to the 
right, or propriety of a representative sit- 
ting in his place, and declining to vote, 
something will be said in a following chap- 
ter. At present we need consider only the 
grounds for excusing a member from act- 
ing with the rest, and casting his vote. 
The chief, indeed the sole, reason that will 



A Point or Two About Voting 217 



justify one in refraining from voting is that 
he has a direct interest, personal or pecun- 
iary, in the pending question. To meet this 
emergency the rules usually provide in 
terms that a member so situated shall not 
vote. Members need have no dehcacy, 
where the prospect of their profiting by the 
result is reasonably remote. Thus it would 
seem that an appropriation for building a 
lunatic asylum, or a bill to enlarge the ac- 
commodation for guests at the penitentiary, 
may command properly enough the action 
of all hands. 

* Where the proposed legislation is likely 
to affect a class, and not simply individuals, 
a member is at liberty to vote. The pe- 
cuniary interest must be separate and dis- 
tinct, and not one which he enjoys in com- 
mon with his fellow-citizens. The mem- 
ber will consult his conscience. To vote 
that the House as a body go upon a rail- 
road excursion, at the expense of the pub- 
He treasury, is not to be reckoned, there- 
fore, as morally sinful. Nice queries in 
casuistry are coming up regularly year 
after year, yet few members ever think of 
going to the chaplain about them. The 
best advice to be given to anybody who is 
morbidly disturbed is, that he state his per- 
plexities to the editor of the nearest news- 
paper, clamoring for reform. 

* A member, we will suppose, has voted, 
and later on it is discovered that he had 



Interest— 
What? 



21 8 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



The casting 
vote 



such a pecuniary interest in the measure at 
the time as by rule would disqualify him 
from voting. Can his vote be disallowed? 
Mr. Cushing ^ and the rest of us think there 
is no room for doubt. It can. It is done 
by a motion made for that purpose, follow- 
ing the same course of procedure that is 
adopted when, after a vote has been de- 
clared, it is ascertained that members have 
voted who were not in the House when the 
question was put. Inasmuch as I take it 
for granted that my readers will with prac- 
tical unanimity refrain from voting, when 
they have no right to exercise that priv- 
ilege, I do not think it necessary to devote 
further space to the consideration of this 
topic. 

* The man who pounds with the gavel has 
his hands full to preserve order, and to 
keep members well up to their work, with- 
out being saddled with the burden of hav- 
ing to make up his mind how to vote on 
every motion that comes along. So the 
law exempts the presiding officer from the 
duty of ranging himself with the ayes or 
the noes, except upon the rare occasions 
when the House finds itself split into halves. 
Unlike the famous friend of the school- 
men, between two bundles of hay, the 
Speaker goes to one side or the other. He 
votes. 



* Section 1839. 



A Point or Two About Voting 219 



* The books abound in much that is fine- \Bright 
spun and intricate upon the subject of thej^^"^'""^' 
casting vote. The Constitution furnishes | 
to the Vice President of the United States- 
specific directions in this contingency. His 
path is plain. Not so with the Speaker. 
This officer represents a constituency; and 
a constituency has a right to make its pres- 
ence felt upon the floor. Nathaniel Macon, 
of North Carolina, while Speaker, seized 
the opportunity, 9th January, 1803, to pre- 
sent his views on this interesting topic, and 
while doing so to brush away a cobweb or 
two. Who knows that some reader of 
mine may not climb to the pinnacle of fame, 
and when he gets there may not strike out 
something new in the line of the casting 
vote? I drop the hint as we go along. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 



The 
differerue 



THE MINORITY 

Here the hammer fell. 

—CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, 
Vol. 21, No. icy^ypage 3q3Q. 

WRITERS who have digged down 
deep to where rests the under- 
pinning of our democratic insti- 
tutions tell us of a bed-rock principle, 
which is that in a government by the peo- 
ple, the majority rule. Nobody at this era 
of the world's progress is so bHnd as not to 
see that the objective point of the stump- 
speech, and of the torchlight procession, is 
to gain the majority vote. We now come 
to bestow our attention upon the poor, lit- 
tle legislative minority. Do they possess 
any rights worth speaking of? And if so, 
what are they? 

* A majority has to act ; the minority talks. 
The one is for pushing bills through with 
no more discussion than is barely neces- 
sary ; the other " views with alarm " the 
passage of this or that bill. The majority 
has no time to lose ; the minority does not 
propose to be hurried. As for the leaders, 
aware that their party is held to render an 
account of stewardship, they want to pass 
the important bills as quickly as they can 
and adjourn, so as to keep the rank and file 
out of mischief. The minority calls up the 
spectre of hasty legislation. It enlarges 



The Minority 221 

upon the truth, as if discovered only yester- 
day, that to kill a bad measure avails as 
much as to enact a good one. 

* The minority can always be depended up- 
on to bustle about so as to make its pres- 
ence felt. Whenever a small but compact 
minority sets out to intimidate and con- 
found their more numerous brethren, it is 
truly surprising v^hat tremendous billows 
of agitation they can set in motion. An 
impetuous orator who is going to be outvot- 
ed is often a sight to behold. He declares 
his purpose to stand by the Constitution, 
protect the people. Sir, and expose the in- 
famous conduct of his friends on the other 
side, come what way. This lofty purpose 
he does not announce in a whisper, either. 

* Talk is a commodity that recommends 
itself to a minority in their hour of need. 
The supply used to come cheap. It used 
to come too in considerable quantities. 
But one day, as we have seen, a cold, un- 
feeling majority ruthlessly put into opera- 
tion the previous question. For the Spar- 
tan band of a minority two ways remain of 
struggling to stave off a vote. The first is, 
to make a series of dilatory motions, one 
after another, exercising the high constitu- 
tional privilege of calling for the yeas and 
nays on each motion separately. The sec- 
ond is, where the arithmetic of the situation 
justifies it, to sit in their seats, and by si- 
lently ignoring the call of their names, to 



spirits 
perturbed 



speaking by 
the card 



222 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

succeed in being theoretically absent, and 
thus leave the House without a quorum. 
These two ingenious endeavors at stopping 
the onward progress of events constitute, 
I may say, the leading features of what is 
known in parHamentary circles as the 
heroic art of fihbustering. 

* Great things can be done upon the criti- 
cal question of approving yesterday's jour- 
nal. The lever that the filibuster gets hold 
of, and of which he never lets go till he is 
forced to,— is the motion to adjourn. The 
motion to fix the day to which the House 
shall adjourn, was made a privileged mo- 
tion in 1789, by the first Congress that met 
under the Constitution. It was dropped in 
1890. The Thirty-sixth Congress made 
privileged the motion to take a recess. 
But the Fifty-first Congress deprived these 
motions of their privileged character, and 
adopted an entirely new rule, namely " No 
dilatory motion shall be entertained by the 
Speaker." ^ 

* Somebody who Hkes to count has looked 
through the Congressional Record, and is 
enabled thus to tell us that were two hun- 
dred and twenty-two roll calls, and calls of 
the House, during the first session of the 
Fiftieth Congress. Of these, one hundred 
and twenty-two were for filibustering pur- 
Iposes; eighty on one bill alone. At the 



» Rule XVI., sec. 10. 



The Minority 



223 



first session of the Fifty-first Congress, the 
roll calls numbered four hundred and sixty, 
of which it is estimated that three hundred 
and sixty were purely obstructive. Allow- 
ing thirty minutes to each roll call (and that 
means quick work) it appears that thirty- 
six legislative days were thus consumed. 
Let us pause for a moment, and estimate 
what an array of bills for the amelioration 
of mankind might have gone through as 
the result of thirty-six days of hard work 
In the second session of the Fiftieth Con- 
gress one man, who wanted to have his own 
way, showed the rest what one man could 
do (and a great House could not do) under 
the rules then in force. The Oklahoma 
filibustering, to the record of which the 
curious-minded may turn for edification, 
prepared the way for the radical change 
just specified. 

"^ The device of testing the sense of the a Britis, 
House upon the question of adjournment, ^""^^"^s 
was not unknown to the distinguished gen- 
tlemen who from time to time have been 
charged with the duty of enacting laws on 
the banks of the Thames. From a sketchy 
little book entitled '' Random Recollections 
of the House of Commons," I quote as fol- 
lows : " The celebrated Mr. Sheridan on 
one occasion moved the adjournment of the 
House nineteen successive times, and had 
nineteen divisions on the subject, the one 
following the other as fast as they could be 



224 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Quorum 
breaking 



taken. The House, seeing it was only 
wasting time to resist the adjournment any 
longer, at last reluctantly yielded." ^ I bor- 
row the passage, not so much to show what 
a model of perseverance " the celebrated 
Mr. Sheridan " must have been, as to hold 
up to lasting admiration a House of Com- 
mons so eminently discreet as not to be 
obstinate when it could see plainly that 
there was nothing to be gained thereby. 
* Passing away the time in a constant repe- 
tition of pointless motions, is not perhaps 
the best use to which a man may put his 
talents, but this much can be said of it: it 
wears at least the semblance of doing busi- 
ness. The other method of filibustering, 
however, has not in its favor even this poor 
excuse. I refer to the refusal of a minority 
to vote, when they discover that the num- 
ber of those present on the opposite side is 
not a quorum of the House. In the doings 
of the Fifty-first Congress it came to be 
a very prominent feature. Directly con- 
nected herewith is the right assumed by 
Speaker Reed to count as present those 
members who sit in their seats, and refuse 
to vote. This Mr. R. proceeded to do — 
with what result the world that notices such 
matters perfectly well knows. The earth 
continued to roll on its axis. Now, it 
seems, spring, summer, autumn, and winter 
get along about as usual. 

* Page 55. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 



T 



RECONSIDERATION 



If V were done, when 'tis done. 

—MACBETH. 



STROLL with me into the lobby when 
the House is in session. Do you ob- 
serve that sharp-featured six-footer, 
who has the stout gentleman in eye-glasses 
pinned up against the wall? How ear- 
nest he is, the tall man, I mean — and vol- 
uble. Did you ever see a talker more alive 
with gestures? The honorable member 
(for such is the other) wears that look of 
discomfort which a victim is apt to present 
when button-holed with no prospect of es- 
cape open. What does it mean? Simply 
that an outsider interested in a bill is on 
hand to look after it. 

* Your born politician can come out smil- 
ingly into the lobby, shake hands in cordial 
style, and lend an ear to the importunity of 
a visitor, with such an ingenious pretence 
of enjoying it all, that the interview seems 
a success. Then, after another shake of the 
hand, he can hasten back into the sacred 
precincts of the House, and as the doors 
swing to behind him he can with ease for- 
get the man, and his talk. This is a gift 
that nature bestows sparingly. It is be- 
cause we mortals are but ill-fitted to with- 
225 



Vanity 



226 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



stand, face to face, assaults upon our good 
nature, and because poor humanity will get 
tired at last of argument and speech-mak- 
ing, that the rule applies universally, which 
makes a vote upon the merits final and con- 
clusive. When one reflects what a mem- 
ber has to go through before reaching 
a point where he has the chance to say 
'' Yes " or " No," one ceases to wonder that 
a vote means so much. The books tell us 
that the decision of a question once put to 
a deHberative assembly is the judgment of 
the assembly. It cannot be brought again 
into question. That is to say the same 
motion substantially cannot be put a sec- 
ond time. 

* The House, for example, has just ordered 
a bill to lie upon the table. A motion can- 
not be received on the same day to refer the 
bill to a committee. Or, a motion to lay 
on the table has been negatived, and no 
proceeding has taken place touching di- 
rectly the merits of the measure ; the mo- 
tion to lay on the table cannot be repeated. 
The principle, however, does not forbid 
putting the same question at diflferent 
stages of a bill. So, upon a report from a 
committee, questions that were put and de- 
cided before the bill was committed may be 
renewed. These latter motions, it is to be 
observed, do not involve an assumption 
that the House is of a sudden going to 
change its mind. 



uderatit 



227 



* The motto Nulla vestigia retrarstim looks 
well, in gilt letters, hanging on the wall of 
a school-room. It is Latin, to begin with ; 
and so pleases the parents on examination 
day. Viewed as the expression of an ab- 
stract principle, suitable for the regulation 
of conduct, it is superfine. Givers of ad- 
vice to the young are accustomed to put 
forward this phrase as a stimulus to what 
they are pleased to call " noble exertion." 
So far as it has a practical meaning, it can 
be said to outline a sound dogma of par- 
liamentary ethics. In a rough way it may 
be stated that usually an assembly will not 
go back to undo what has once been done. 

* If paying a man three dollars a day and 
mileage for thinking about the public busi- 
ness would of itself make him wise above 
his fellows, we might look to see legislative 
doings happily transacted. But our repre- 
sentatives, much as we honor and revere 
them, are after all but human. Now and 
then you can even get one of them to admit 
that such is the fact. Hence we perceive 
that they are as liable to make mistakes as 
a clerk in a drug store, or the average run 
of petty juries. A House will at times al- 
low itself to become inattentive to what is 
passing, — a bill, for instance. It likes to 
have a chance to correct errors of inad- 
vertence. 

* It is a subject of just pride that, along with 
our reapers, and our rifles, our railroad and 



Taking the 
back track 



The sober, 
second, etc. 



Motion to 
reconsider 



228 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Its 

peculiarities 



our electric appliances, the United States 
of America can boast of having called into 
existence the motion to reconsider. Like 
many other inventions, it was born of ne- 
cessity. Who first conceived the idea, I am 
unable to state. The records of the Patent 
Office, crammed as they are with all sorts 
of information, fail to disclose his name. 
If I only knew the gentleman, it would be 
a pleasure to give to him honorable men- 
tion in these pages. ^ There is authority 
for saying that the Congress of the Confed- 
eration were not unacquainted with the mo- 
tion to reconsider. 

* An opportunity to reconsider a vote has 
proved so useful an expedient that pro- 
vision therefor may now be said to be a set- 
tled principle of parliamentary practice. 
The assembly takes care to prescribe by 
rule certain restrictions in order to prevent 
abuse. For example, it is customary to re- 
quire that the motion be made by one who 
had voted with the majority. By majority 
is meant the prevailing party ; so, if a ques- 
tion has been lost by a tie vote, a member 
who went in the negative is entitled to 
move a reconsideration. A member pres- 
ent and not voting is treated, in cases where 



' It has sometimes seemed as though possibly the late Thomas 
Hart Benton, of Missouri, is entitled to this distinction ; but it is 
clear that if he had started it, he would have thought to mention 
the fact in his great work about Benton, in two octavo volumes, en- 
titled "Thirty Years in the United States Senate, by Thomas H. 
Benton." 



Reconsideration 



229 



no division has taken place, as having voted 
with the majority. 

* In Congress a motion to reconsider takes 
precedence of all other motions, except 
that to adjourn. But a motion is not in 
order to reconsider a vote by which the 
House has refused to adjourn; nor can a 
vote on a motion to suspend the rule be 
reconsidered. The reader will be pleased, 
I know, to learn that a motion to recon- 
sider is not debatable. It is indeed refresh- 
ing, now that time has got to be so valu- 
able a commodity in the transaction of 
Congressional business, to hear of a motion 
upon the floor of Congress that cannot be 
made the subject of debate. 

* By a standing rule of the Senate, a motion 
to reconsider may be made on the same 
day, or on either of the next two days of 
actual session; and in the House such a 
motion must be made on the same, or on 
the succeeding day. Thus we perceive no 
time is to be lost, if we would set things to 
rights ; for the step has to be taken while 
the legislature still has the subject fresh in 
mind. In regard to this requirement, I 
feel sure that the reader will agree with me, 
that it is as it should be. It is pleasant thus 
to have us all four, the Senate, the House, 
the reader, and myself, united in sentiment. 



In the 
District of 
Columbia 



Must be 
prompt 



CHAPTER XL 



COMMITTEES HOW APPOINTED 

Men are like strawberries in a box — the big ones go to the top. 
— SARSFIELD YOUNG. 

IN an earlier chapter where the dis- 
course lightly touches upon the topic of 
working by committee, was not a hint 
let fall that at a later stage something would 
be said of the methods adopted to sort 
members into their places upon the stand- 
ing committees? To deal fairly with my 
confiding reader, I shall ask the privilege 
of piloting him once more along the cor- 
ridors, so as to let him peep with me into 
a committee-room. 

* One would not go far amiss should he 
describe the legislature of to-day as a bun- 
dle of committees. Years ago, when the 
volume of public business was as nothing 
compared with what it has now become, 
when telegraphs, railroads, and corners in 
stock were unknown, and when nobody ap- 
peared to be pressed for time, the floor of 
the House used to be a place for actual de- 
bate. Speeches were made. Every mem- 
ber with a tongue to wag had a chance 
to talk things over. But times have 
changed. There has been an enormous 
increase in the public business. It goes 
without saying that the old twenty-four 



Committees — How appointed 23 1 

hours to the day do not now admit of any- 
thing Hke the same generous allotment of 
time being handed over to general debate, 
that our progenitors were in the habit of 
providing. Of late years the real work of 
the session has been done in the commit 
tee-room, with the result that the House 
itself does not much incline to depart from 
conclusions that have there been deliber 
ately reached. A change, so marked as 
this in the method of passing bills, affords 
opportunity for those who scent danger in 
the air, to favor the country with their fore 
bodings of what is going to become of us 
and our institutions ; but it suffices here 
simply to note the fact that the tendency of 
the age has been to enlarge the power and 
influence of committees, and thereby great- 
ly curtail debate upon the floor. 
* An assembly intends that every vaQmh^r Muck variety 
shall do his share of work. It provides 
therefore a list of standing committees, so 
that no subject that is likely to come up for 
consideration shall be without an appropri- 
ate piace of reference.^ Select committees 

i Taking up in turn the several States of the Union, one may 
come across a pleasing variety of topics, that are from time to time 
occupying the legislative mind, as for example " The State Prison," 
" Swamp and Overflowed Lands," " Chinese Immigration," " State 
Medicine," " Health and Vital Statistics." " Ditches and Drains," 
" Geology and Science," " The Chesapeake Bay and its Tribu- 
taries," " Retrenchment and Economy," " Alteration of Names," 
" Fisheries," " Public Morals," " Temperance." " Sales of Real 
Estate," "Live Stock and Dairying," "Special Legislation," 
" The Rights and Privileges of Inhabitants of the States," " Vini- 
culture and Viticulture," "Inspections," " Enrolled Bills," "Nat- 
ural Resources," etc. 



IVko 
appoints 



The 

listening 
House 



232 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

are made up, as the term implies, for the 
occasion. Any conceivable subject that 
the assembly in its wisdom shall see fit to 
enquire into may be sent for consideration 
to a select committee. 

* To be one of a committee means ordi- 
narily to be assigned to work. It happens 
sometimes, however, that a committee is 
distinguished by the circumstance that it 
has nothing whatever to do. Long after 
there was need of it the machinery used to 
be set up at Washington, session after ses- 
sion, for the due consideration of revolu- 
tionary pensions. So of revolutionary war 
claims. But Congress may be pardoned 
perhaps for assuming that war claims, like 
" kind words," never die. 

* Assemblies usually provide by rule that 
all committees shall be appointed by the 
Speaker, unless otherwise directed. The 
duty thus imposed upon the Speaker of se- 
lecting gentlemen who shall compose the 
various committees is, I need hardly add, 
of the first magnitude. 

* A moment of suspense is reached just be- 
fore the clerk begins to read the names. 
Quiet prevails, when that officer proceeds 
with the list ; and the world learns to whom 
the prizes come, and who draws a blank. 
There is a ticking in the telegraph office, 
and the newspapers print the list of com- 
mittees. Comments are then in order. 

* Mrs. Smith hears from her husband. 



Committees — How Appointed 233 

John goes on to remark pretty emphatically 
that the delegation are all worked up ; ter- 
ribly indignant are the delegation. They 
are going to have it explained how it hap- 
pens that the Speaker after promising that 
he (Mr. Smith) shoul4 be assigned a place 
suited to his talents and reputation, after 
giving the delegation to understand that it 
was " all fixed," how it happens that the 
Speaker has gone to work and put him 
(Smith) down on an obscure committee, — • 
and not even chairman of that. Mrs. 
Smith loses no time in telling her circle of 
friends that the delegation are bound to 
have satisfaction. " Perfect outrage, John 
says the delegation says." 
* As for Brown, he writes home that he 
could have had a chairmanship, but he did 
not care for it ; while Jones lets fall no com- 
ment in particular upon the subject. He 
remarks merely that if the Speaker had had 
any brains, he would not have made the 
mess of it that he has done. Yet there are 
a few (most of them chairmen) who appear 
to take the whole business philosophically. 



^Tke beauty 
of it 



Here's 

anotJier 



CHAPTER XLI 



COMMITTEES THEIR FUNCTIONS 

Ful often thne he hadde the bord begonne. 

-THE CANTERBURY TALES. 

AS a first Step towards getting into 
shape for business, a committee has 
to effect an organization. As soon 
as may be after committees are announced, 
the members who have been designed to 
serve together meet in a room, assigned for 
their occupancy, conveniently near to the 
chamber where the sessions of the assem- 
bly are held. The room is usually fur- 
nished with a long table, at the sides of 
which are ranged comfortable arm-chairs. 
One chair stands at the head of the table. 
In well-regulated committee-rooms there 
is to be seen also, opposite to each chair, a 
drawer in the table under lock and key, 
convenient for bills, petitions, cigars, 
marked copies of newspapers, and other 
articles indispensable for carrying forward 
legislation. Also a nice lot of stationery, 
so that no great thought surging in the leg- 
islative brain may perish for lack of oppor- 
tunity to commit it to writing. A book- 
case, it may be, adorns the apartment, its 
shelves carrying rows of that standard lit- 
erature one sometimes runs across at a 
junk-shop. Over by the window stands 
234 



Committees — Their Functions 



235 



the clerk's desk (if the committee have a 
clerk) that is stocked well with documents 
and papers. 

* The somewhat imposing personage who 
sits at the head of the table is, as you read 
ily guess, the chairman; for a committee 
must needs have somebody to take com- 
mand, just as a canal-boat has its captain 
The chairman calls the meetings of his com- 
mittee, distributes the work, puts questions 
to a vote, and makes himself generally use- 
ful. The honor of a chairmanship is yield- 
ed by custom to the member named first 
upon the committee. While the law per- 
mits a committee to choose its own chair- 
man, the established usage is that the 
gentleman who heads the list shall enjoy 
the distinction of presiding over his associ- 
ates. It would be a grave reason indeed 
that should warrant a departure from this 
time-honored custom. Below the chair- 
man, other members range themselves at 
the table in the order of precedence, accord- 
ing as their names stand upon the list. 
When the chairman is detained, the mem- 
ber present whose name comes highest on 
the list presides. 

* In some committees they are able to dis- 
pense with a clerk, but where there is work 
for a clerk to do, a quick, active young man 
of methodical habits will find his services 
in demand. A clerk keeps the docket, 
entering therein minutes of the action of 



The 

chain 



236 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

the committee upon bills and resolutions 
submitted for their consideration. He 
conducts the correspondence, looks after 
bills, petitions, reports, and various other 
documents belonging to the committee ; 
besides having an eye to the room and its 
contents, at times when the committee are 
not in session. Upon the shoulders of the 
clerk (unless the committee have a messen- 
ger) rests the duty of opening the door 
when a knock is heard, and of conveying to 
the outsider in a tone bordering upon the 
mysterious, the information that the com- 
mittee are in session and cannot be dis- 
turbed. The fitness of a clerk for his 
duties, or the lack of it, will at once make 
itself felt in the work of the committee, with 
an effect, it is not too much to say, equal to 
that of the chairman himself. A clerk 
should be systematic, and of orderly habits. 
One of the many trying duties that falls to 
his lot is to keep track of official papers. 
While in training at this branch of the busi- 
ness he is likely to learn with what ability 
some statesmen can contrive to make a 
bill, and all the original papers thereto per- 
taining, disappear, and stay disappeared up 
to the very last hour of the session. 
* The post of clerk to a committee, in this 
free republic, seldom goes a-begging. 
Numerous applicants give notice that they 
are willing to accept the salary. The right 
to name who shall act as clerk is a priv- 



Committees — Their Functions 



237 



ilege usually conceded to the chairman; 
who is presumed to study the situation with 
an eye single to the public interest. 

* Instances have been known, however, ;7^«7«r7>' 
where the chairman is blessed with a son, :2^^^^'^''^- 
that the family look upon as possessing 
talents of a remarkable order. The young 

man very likely has dedicated his talents 
to the law, and by reading his father's 
speeches and otherwise, is preparing him- 
self to enter upon a career. After looking 
over the entire field the chairman feels that 
he must require his offspring to forego 
other engagements and take up the burden 
of a clerkship. With a filial instinct, the 
youth obeys, thus averting the disaster of 
having the monthly salary paid to some 
one outside of the family. 

* A committee does not continue sitting ivhen may 
while the House itself is in actual session, ^'* 
unless it be permitted by a vote so to do. 
When the hour arrives for the House to 

come to order, a bustle ensues in commit- 
tee-rooms, and proceedings are rapidly 
brought to a close. The people have a 
right to be present, in the person of their 
representatives, at each and every moment 
of the session, for the purpose of seeing to 
it that no mischief is done. Hence punct- 
ual and continual attendance is not merely 
a commendable habit; it rises to the point 
of being a political duty. For a committee 
to obtain leave to sit during the session of 



A llowed 
privacy 



238 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

the House is a task of no great magnitude. 
Where a few individuals evince an inclina- 
tion to keep at work, it clearly appears to 
be the duty of everybody else to let them 
have their own way about it. 
* It is th€ custom of most legislative bodies 
to hold committee meetings in the morn- 
ing. The legislative brain is supposed to 
be at its best at this time of day. Where 
business is unusually brisk resort may be 
had to an evening session. As a matter of 
fact the members of a committee are ex- 
pected to get together, at the call of the 
chairman, at such hours as best serve their 
convenience. The meetings are private, 
but public hearings may be granted to in- 
terested parties. Investigations are of 
modern invention. Being designed to 
startle the country with a revelation of the 
terrible state of things existing in the ad- 
ministration of afifairs by " the other side," 
they are conducted ordinarily with open 
doors, in the presence of the people and of 
the newspaper reporters. But committees 
carry on their discussions all by themselves. 
It is not etiquette to intrude at these se- 
ances. No matter how animated the pro- 
ceedings may be, or how great the tempta- 
tion to lift the veil, it is considered highly 
improper and unparliamentary in a mem- 
ber to refer in his remarks upon the floor to 
what has been said in committee. 
Similarly, where members are of opinion 



Committees — Their Functions 239 

that they ought to devote a portion of their 
valuable time to public business during a 
recess of the assembly, as a committee, it is 
necessary to obtain authority by formal 
vote. So a House may empower a com- 
mittee to depart from the locality where the 
House is sitting, and go into another part 
of the country and there hold its sessions, 
examine witnesses and make a stir gener- 
ally. 

* Standing committees vary in numbers '^a^- 
from three to fifteen, or even more mem- '^^'^'''^^^^^' 
bers, according to the size of the body ap- 
pointing them, or the nature of the services 
that they are expected to render. An odd 
number is commonly selected, so as to 
avoid the possibility of a tie upon a full vote. 
That it may deal with more subjects, and 
at the same time secure from the individual 
member a closer degree of attention to the 
business in hand, a large committee will di- 
vide itself into sub-committees. Three is 
a convenient number for a sub-committee. 
They may assign the bill to one of their 
number, who makes it the subject of his 
special study. When ready, he will report 
his views upon the proposed measure to the 
sub-committee ; the latter in turn report to 
the full committee; and it is from the full 
committee that a report is brought into the 
House. 

*A member is expected to exhibit in ih<tAsio 
committee-room just as much deportment j'^^^"'^''"' 



Has its 
rules 



240 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

and savoir faire as he would display upon 
the floor of the House, where the eyes of 
the whole assembly and of the galleries are 
upon him. The chairman will take care 
that everybody behaves well, and that a 
tone of decorum and dignity mark the pro- 
ceedings. Should any one forget himself 
so far as to be guilty of disorderly conduct, 
neither the chairman nor the committee 
have power to punish him ; they can only 
quell the disturbance, and report the facts 
at once to the House. So, where a witness 
is refractory, or refuses to answer a ques- 
tion, it becomes the duty of the committee 
to report the matter to the House, that the 
majesty of the law may be vindicated. 
* A committee can no more get along with- 
out rules than can the House itself. The 
chairman entertains motions and puts 
questions, just as if the group before him 
were itself a deliberative assembly, and he 
its Speaker. A majority of the committee 
constitutes a quorum for business ; though 
under the later practice, in both Houses of 
Congress, committees have the power to 
fix their own quorum. What with looking 
up the right kind of seeds for an agricult- 
ural population at home, and trying to 
secure pensions, salaried offices, and other 
desirable arrangements for their needy 
constituents, our senators and represent- 
atives have to move around Washington at 
a lively rate in order to get their errands 



Committees — Their Functions 241 



done of a morning, so that there shall be 
no empty chairs at committee meetings. 

* Should a member leave the committee- 
room, and thus reduce the number present 
below a quorum, those who remain can 
keep on deliberating, so long as nobody is 
kind enough to call attention to the fact 
that the quorum has vanished. If a lack of 
a quorum be disclosed, no vote can be 
taken. The House of Representatives at 
Washington curbs the appetite of Con- 
gressmen for overwork, by providing that 
a committee may not report a bill where 
the subject-matter has not first been re- 
ferred to it by the rules, or otherwise. 

* Upon the adjournment sine die of a legis- 
lature, all committees cease to exist. The 
Senate of the United States, however, be- 
ing a permanent body, its committees do 
not expire with the winding up of a Con- 
gress. 



Exeunt 
omnes 



I 



CHAPTER XLII 



COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE 

" So say we all of us." 

—FAMILIAR REFRAIN. 

A HOUSE may resolve itself into a 
committee of the whole House. 
That is, all the members sit together 
as one committee, and strictly speaking not 
as a House. The Speaker leaves the 
chair, and another takes his place who pre- 
sides as chairman of this grand committee. 
An assembly can convert itself into a com- 
mittee of the whole, and then back again 
into the House, with rapidity and ease. 
When the Speaker vacates the chair, the 
sergeant-at-arms removes the mace, as a 
signal that it is no longer the House that is 
in session. But inasmuch as it may be 
necessary at any moment for the committee 
to rise and the House go into session again 
(a message from the other branch may re- 
quire it), the Speaker and his faithful mace- 
bearer remain on the premises within ready 
call. 

* Under the Constitution the House of 
Representatives holds the purse-strings, 
and like almost everybody else who acts in 
that capacity, it holds them tightly. One 
of its rules provides that all motions involv- 
ing a tax upon the people, or bills appro- 
242 



Committee of the Whole House 243 

priating money, must first be considered 
in a committee of the whole. There are 
two of these committees ; one, a committee 
of the whole house upon the state of the 
Union, to which public bills and public 
business are referred. To the other go pri- 
vate bills and private business; and it is 
styled. The committee of the whole house. 
A creditor who is trying to get the United 
States to pay what it owes him, has the 
comfort of realizing that his aggressive at- 
titude does not in the least disturb the state 
of the Union. 

* A quorum is as essential for the transac- 
tion of business in a committee of the 
whole, as in the House itself. Whenever 
it is made to appear to the chairman that a 
quorum is not present, it becomes his duty 
to have the roll called ; and after that cere- 
mony is ended the committee rises, when 
the chairman reports to the Speaker that 
there is, or is not a quorum, as the case may 
be, and action is taken accordingly. A 
motion to adjourn may be carried, or a call 
of the House will be ordered. In the lat- 
ter event, absentees are sent for, and the 
sergeant-at-arms with his deputies scour 
the vicinage for delinquents, who when 
caught are escorted into the chamber, and 
down the aisle. As the missing members 
one by one come into the presence of their 
more virtuous brethren, each is expected to 
lay before the Speaker such excuse for ab- 



244 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Why they 
like it 



sence as may, upon the spur of the moment, 
occur to him. At Washington, these occa- 
sions are signahzed by a display of wit and 
humor, pecuHarly congressional, which is 
permitted to trickle down to posterity 
through the channel of the Record. 

The rule that no member shall speak 
more than once to the same question does 
not hold in committee of the whole. 
* With all this to be credited in its favor, it 
must be confessed that the committee of 
the whole, as a parliamentary contrivance, 
is chiefly remarkable for the things that 
cannot be done in it. In a committee of 
the whole, the previous question cannot be 
moved ; nor can a motion there be made to 
lay on the table ; nor, to postpone indefi- 
nitely, or to a day certain. Another dis- 
ability is, that the committee may not en- 
tertain a matter of privilege. Again the 
committee cannot take the yeas and nays. 
Nor can it reconsider a vote, nor adjourn. 
In a word, it acts as a preliminary or advis- 
ory body, much as does a standing or select 
committee. As illustrating the real char- 
acter of a committee of the whole House, 
it may be added that in the British House 
of Commons, whence we borrow the insti- 
tution, the chairman of a committee of the 
whole occupies the chair of the clerk, and 
not that of the Speaker. When it comes 
to the outward trappings, we hardly go so 
far as that in America. 



Committee of the Whole House 245 



* Amid the rapid interchange of ideas that 
is going on constantly in committee of the 
whole, it would be strange were not scenes 
now and then to occur of an exciting nat- 
ure. At the first sign of a storm brewing, 
the chairman should call the parties to 
order. If all does not quickly become 
smooth, he will entertain a motion that the 
committee do now rise, which being car- 
ried, he reports to the Speaker that the 
committee has risen, stating why it has 
done so. In this respect a committee of 
the whole House acts precisely as would 
one of the standing comm.ittees, with a 
badly behaved member on its hands. To 
the uninitiated, it may seem strange that 
the chairman should go to the trouble of 
telling the Speaker what that gentleman in 
all human probability knows perfectly 
well already ; but in public affairs many an 
incident takes place before a man's eyes, of 
which he sees nothing, for the simple rea- 
son that he is not looking officially at what 
is going on. 

* The chairman of the committee of the 
whole is empOAvered to administer an oath 
to witnesses in a case under its examina- 
tion. But when the House has fixed the 
hour at which debate shall close, the chair- 
man may not entertain a request for an ex- 
tension; nor can the committee, even by 
unanimous consent, extend the time. 
Members like to be invited to preside over 



Disorderly 
conduct 



Hispoi 



246 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



The SenaU 
style 



the committee of the whole, since the post 
of chairman proves to be an admirable 
training-school for the higher office of 
Speaker. Then, again, it is to be remem- 
bered that a large proportion of the ladies 
who look down so bewitchingly from the 
gallery, know nothing of the difference. 

* When the House goes into committee of 
the whole, bills are taken up in their regular 
order on the calendar, unless the House 
has voted to proceed to the consideration 
of a particular measure. Taught by ex- 
perience. Congressmen have at last settled 
upon five minutes (or 300 seconds) as the 
right stretch of time to let each other talk. 
A new member of Congress after studying 
clause five of rule xxiii. learns how he 
can obtain an inning, when general debate 
is closed, by moving to strike out the last 
word. When tired of listening, the rem- 
edy is to move that the committee do now 
rise, and report. The Speaker takes the 
chair, and a motion is carried through the 
House, closing debate on the section of the 
bill then under consideration, after which 
the House, if it choose, can again go into 
Committee. At least, that used to be the 
method. Now, the committee itself in 
many bodies has power to close the de- 
bate, thus obviating the need of resorting 
to the roundabout method of the text. 

* The Senate of the United States is obliged 
to maintain a reputation for dignity. This 



Committee of the Whole House 247 



accounts for the fact that it does not per- 
mit itself to be shifting alternately in and 
out of a committee of the whole. The Sen- 
ate is not a very numerous body, and its 
cloak-rooms are reached more easily than 
is the corresponding shelter upon the 
House side. Hence for years there has 
existed a disposition among the honorable 
Senators to let each other talk just as long 
and as often as the oratorical instinct 
prompts. In order to compass this frater- 
nal purpose, the Senate, instead of going 
into committee, is accustomed to act under 
an order that provides for the discussion of 
pending subjects as in committee of the 
whole. Mr. Jefferson terms this situation 
a quasi committee. Indeed, he outlines a 
picture where the quasi committee stands 
in statu quo, a Latin predicament, as to 
which the reader, curious to know what 
comes of it, may turn to Section XXX. of 
the famous Manual, and learn for himself. 



CHAPTER XLIII 



How 
made up 



CONFERENCE COMMITTEES 

That obstinate other man. 

-SMITH. 

COMMITTEES of conference are 
designed to furnish the means of 
bringing about harmony between 
two Houses, when a divergence of views 
exists as to the form in which a bill shall be 
enacted into a statute. Were men so con- 
stituted that two branches of a legislature 
could always be counted on to think alike, 
there would be no differences to settle. 
Such, however, is not the way in which hu- 
man nature disports itself. More or less 
friction is sure to exist between a Senate 
and House, even where the two bodies are 
in political agreement. Each body is dis- 
posed to think highly of its own moderate 
but firm stand, and to deplore the wilful 
obstinacy of the other. The only way out 
of the dilemma is to send the subject-mat- 
ter to a special tribunal, termed a commit- 
tee of conference, made up from each body. 
* A conference committee is unique. It is 
not a heterogeneous body, acting as one 
committee (nothing like the celebrated 
Siamese twins, for instance), but two com- 
mittees, each of which acts separately by 
its own majority. At least, that is what the 
248 



Conference Committees 



249 



Congressional Globe assures us, at volume 
fifteen, page one thousand, one hundred 
and seventy-nine. The presiding officer 
names the members, usually three, who 
meet a corresponding number from the 
other House. The public is not advised of 
what is going on, for the committee does 
its peace-making behind closed doors. 
They talk. It is a give-and-take procedure 
— with more disposition to the latter than 
to the former. It is a settled rule that the 
committee cannot consider and report to 
their respective Houses any new matter or 
proposition not in dispute ; they must stick 
to so much of the text as the two Houses 
are at loggerheads over ; that is to say, they 
may treat only of certain specific amend- 
ments, though additional matter germane 
to any particular amendment is in order. 
* From time to time the respective trios 
come out into the open and report progress, 
or a lack of it. The legislative mind always 
indulges the hope that by careful nursing a 
bill may " pull through " (if one may bor- 
row an elegant expression from our med- 
ical friends), so that the presentation of a 
conference report is at all times in order, 
save only while the journal is being read, 
or during a call of the roll, or a division 
of the House. Offering a conference re- 
port takes precedence even of a motion to 
adjourn ; and is more highly privileged than 
an election case, which is saying a good 



What h 
there ! 



250 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



Further 
particulars 



A soothing 
reflection 



deal. You may not amend the report of 
a committee of conference. Like an offer 
of marriage to the fat woman in the dime 
museum, it must be adopted or rejected in 
its entirety. Nor can the report be laid 
upon the table. 

* Of three members, two must join in sign- 
ing a report. As may be conjectured, the 
fate of more than one measure during the 
closing hours of a session hangs upon the 
decision of a conference committee. It is 
a moment for mutual concession. A re- 
port will come into the House, two or three 
or even more times ; and the little Spartan 
band are bade to return to the contest un- 
der instructions of the perish-in-the-last- 
ditch order. When they appear next, it is 
to explain in as few words as possible why 
they surrendered, and how the others sur- 
rendered more than they did. Seeing that 
everybody is impatient to get away, it is by 
no means strange that of a sudden a virtue 
is thus made of necessity, the report agreed 
to, and the bill sent travelling toward the 
Executive at railroad speed. 

If the reader be disposed to condemn this 
apparently headlong style of statute-mak- 
ing, I presume I cannot stop him. That 
he may not, however, despair wholly of the 
republic, I revive in his memory the follow- 
ing words from one of the wisest of states- 
men : " All government — indeed, every hu- 
man benefit and enjoyment, every virtue 



Conference Committees 



251 



and every prudent act, is founded on com- 
promise and barter. We balance incon- 
veniences. We give and take; we remit 
some rights that we may enjoy others, and 
we choose rather to be happy than subtle 
disputants." ^ 



» Edmund Burke. 



CHAPTER XLIV 



THE CALENDAR 

In Parliament I Jill my seat 
IVith many other noodles. 

W. MACKWORTH PRAED. 

THE prosperity of a certain railway 
company in British India being a 
topic of conversation, somebody re- 
marked that its financial success was due to 
the superb discipline under which every 
man in the company's employ had been 
brought. There came a message one day 
to the manager's office, from an agent down 
the line, in charge of one of the smaller 
stations, that read as follows : *' Tiger jump- 
ing around on platform. Telegraph in- 
structions." System is everything. To be 
sure the Solar system isn't, according to the 
later astronomers ; but I am speaking of 
organized human effort. 
* A seat in a legislative assembly is not a 
fit place for the constitutionally lazy man. 
The statute-book seems to stand in perpet- 
ual need of overhauling. Petitions and 
bills, resolutions and orders, addresses and 
memorials, investigations and reports, re- 
forms to be instituted, abuses to be correct- 
ed, remedies to be applied, laws to be 
amended or repealed, — these, with much 
more besides, and all to be rounded off by 
252 



The Calendar 



253 



a vote of thanks to the presiding officer 
" for the uniform abihty and courtesy, and 
so forth," — are enough to keep members 
immersed in state affairs from morning to 
night, with 'scant intermission for meals, 
or chance to snatch a moment to go and 
receipt for an instalment of salary. The 
explanation is simple. A great many peo- 
ple means a great many projects. Few are 
content to let well enough alone. Hence 
of the tinkering to be set in motion year 
after year, there would seem to be literally 
no end. 

* To every bill or resolution it is proper 
that there should be assigned a place upon 
some list, or calendar, where it can be found 
readily when looked for. In fact, a printed 
legislative calendar is indispensable. It 
not only enables members to see at a glance 
what bills are likely to be in order for con- 
sideration on a particular day; but it per- 
forms the equally useful office of keeping 
the outside world informed as to the con- 
dition of the public business. 

* Calendars grow apace and get unwieldy. 
In the House of Representatives, at Wash- 
ington, there are so many bills reported 
from the various committees that, as the 
phrase goes, they " burden the calendar.' 
It has come to be a common saying on the 
shores of the Potomac that the private cal- 
endar of the House is the graveyard of 
bills. 



254 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



One day 

onfy 



milo' the 
wisp 



-^ The calendar in the House, and in the 
Senate, at Washington, is a daily publica- 
tion, containing the latest news, up to the 
hour of going to press, on the subject of 
reported bills and resolutions. In this field 
it has no rival. Its circulation is limited to 
the Capitol. By the liberal use of printer's 
ink, each senator and representative is en- 
abled to find lying upon his desk on the 
morning of every working-day a copy of 
the calendar, fresh from that prolific pub- 
lishing-house, the government printing office. 
* If your hopes are centred upon a private 
bill, you may be able to argue yourself into 
a belief that progress is really accomplished, 
when for the first time you catch a sight of 
the familiar title of your bill stretching 
across the page of a calendar, in good, clear 
type, and numbered four thousand and 
something. You feel encouraged. It looks 
like business. Your bill — so fair in terms, 
so just in principle — lies there, snug, and 
ready to be taken up some fine day. So do 
other bills ! 



CHAPTER XLV 



ON CONTEMPT 

In a dungeon deep him threw without remorse. 

-SPENSER. 

IN this sinful world, among other evil- 
doers, there will be found an occasional 
conscience-seared individual who has 
been guilty of committing an offence 
against the dignity of a legislative assem- 
bly. It is a dangerous thing for him to 
have done. The culprit, if apprehended, is 
promptly brought to the bar of the House. 
Here he has to speak up, and let the good 
men who make our laws hear what he has 
to say for himself. There looms before 
him a prospect of condign punishment for 
his temerity. Not only this ; he courts the 
added danger of having his name in scare- 
lines, and an alleged portrait, appear in the 
morning papers. 

* The scope of the present ingenious work 
does not permit of extended remark upon 
the interesting and lively subject of the 
power of a legislative assembly to punish 
for contempt. The Parliament of England 
from the earHest times has made short 
work of troubles of this description. It has 
found the Tower handy as an adjunct to the 
business transacted at Westminster Hall. 
But the Parliament of England, it must be 
borne in mind, can do almost anything. It 
255 



John BulVs 
way 



The 

A merican 
method 



256 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

is a court ; the highest court, indeed, of the 
realm, and Hke other courts it has an in- 
herent power to punish for contempt. 
* Our State legislatures usually have power 
under the State constitutions to punish for 
contempt. Formerly an idea prevailed 
that in the direction of punishing offenders 
both Houses of Congress were as omnipo- 
tent as Parliament ; but in later days when 
the House of Representatives undertook to 
make an American citizen disclose matters 
concerning his private affairs, they were 
politely told in effect that it was none of 
their business. The witness refused to an- 
swer the question put to him, and as a re- 
sult found himself boarding for several 
weeks in the jail of the District of Colum- 
bia. When he got out into the open, he 
sued the sergeant-at-arms for trespass, and 
had the satisfaction of gaining a handsome 
verdict. The case found its way to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, which 
tribunal took occasion to look a little more 
closely into the powers of Congress in this 
particular. The outcome has been that 
the learned Justices are unable to discover 
in the Constitution of the United States any 
general power vested in either House to 
punish for contempt.^ 

Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S., 168. The learned Justices 
say that the attempt of the representatives to inquire into the private 
affairs of a citizen was unlawful. They very discreetly refrain, 
however, from deciding whether this power does as a matter oif 
fact exist in either House of Congress. Judicial fog still envelops 
the question. 



On Contempt 



^S7 



* But the decision affords little protection 
to any misguided individual who would 
presume to conduct himself in a disorderly 
or contumacious manner before a commit- 
tee of Congress. The Revised Statutes of 
the United States guard against just such 
an emergency. If any reader of mine, 
therefore, shall happen to be invited to 
Washington by due process, to appear be- 
fore a committee of the House or Senate, 
he must not stay away, nor, when he ap- 
pears upon the scene, refuse to answer a 
pertinent question. Otherwise his rash 
ness will be treated as a misdemeanor, with 
the prospect open to him of paying a fine, 
and taking up quarters in jail, where he 
may have to tarry not less than a month, 
nor more than twelve months. We must 
respect our legislators, even if we have to. 

* Happily there is Httle disposition on the 
part of the American citizen to evince dis- 
respect to the legislature, — except in the 
newspapers. We sustain our law-makers 
not only by giving to each of them the title 
of Honorable, but by according to them as 
a body our confidence for their honest ef- 
forts, and our esteem for performing their 
task in the main with fidelity. Hence the 
instances of censurable conduct of parties 
other than that of the members themselves 
are not numerous. 

* Scattered here and there, through the 
pages of the Congressional Globe and Rec- 



A "word of 
caution 



Lift the hat 



258 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



The unruly 



ord, are the minutes of proceedings taken 
to uphold the dignity of the House as 
against an individual member who has 
flagrantly transgressed its rules. The se- 
vere remedy of expulsion has been resort- 
ed to very rarely indeed. The House has 
from time to time incarcerated a few mis- 
doers — chiefly newspaper reporters, who, 
in their zeal to serve the public, have for- 
gotten to keep their hands of¥ papers that 
did not belong to them. Sometimes the 
text of a treaty has been pilfered and 
prematurely published in a morning news- 
paper. The enterprising correspondent 
glories in the punishment awarded him for 
his refusal to reveal the circumstances of 
his daring act, for it only helps to advertise 
still more ingeniously the " Daily Free- 
booter." The term of imprisonment ex- 
pires with the adjournment of Congress (if 
not before), and the incident is soon for- 
gotten. 



CHAPTER XLVI 



ADJOURNED SINE DIE 

Go lyttell Booke, do thy indevoure. 

—THE TALE OF NARCISSUS (1560), 
Introduction to Translation. 

WHILE we, peeping leisurely over 
the gallery rail, have been edified 
and amused by turns at the sight 
of our fellow-man disporting himself offi- 
cially below, the pages of this unpretending 
little volume have gone steadily forward, 
until now I find it my duty to acquaint the 
reader with the fact that he has entered into 
what must of necessity be our concluding 
chapter. I shall the more regret to part 
company, since a variety of topics yet re- 
mains, whose discussion otherwise we 
might very likely enjoy together. 

* Take for instance Enrolled Bills, a sub- 
ject not calculated to stir the emotions, or 
bring into play the finer feelings of our nat- 
ure, yet well worthy our consideration. A 
friendly chat on Enrolled Bills, with the 
reader situated so that he cannot get away 
might, I imagine, impart an idea or two 
not wholly unprofitable. 

* Then there is the veto power, an institu- 
tion that really comes down to us with the 
Latin grammar from ancient Rome ; now, 
however, so thoroughly at home with us 

259 



Topics 



Anothet 
topic 



26o THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 



that some politicians think it an American 
invention. Space might be occupied to 
some purpose in telling what is the usual 
procedure of the House when, after having 
been at the trouble of passing a bill, it has 
the bill sent back with a message from the 
Executive to the effect that, being of a dif- 
ferent way of thinking, he presents his com- 
pliments and begs to be excused from sign- 
ing it. Crowds of business men daily 
travel by rail or boat, yet how few are aware 
that a vote upon the passage of a bill over 
the veto of the President cannot be recon- 
sidered. Such, however, is the fact. How 
few of our most respectable citizens ever 
stop to reflect that the House of Represent- 
atives at Washington has in its wisdom or- 
dained that such a communication from the 
White House may be referred to a commit- 
tee, and the bill itself laid upon the table. 
A thirst for knowledge might lead on to 
much curious information about vetoes, in- 
cluding precisely what is meant by a 
" pocket-veto." 

* One might also linger a while over mile- 
age. It is a subject fruitful of suggestions. 
Our public men have to be transported 
from their homes to their legislative seats, 
and back again. There are few situations 
so calculated to engross the attention of a 
member-elect, at the very threshold of his 
public duty, as the problem how to cipher 
out constructive mileage. 



Adjourned Sine Die 



261 



* Many a reader, I dare say, entertains a 
reasonable degree of curiosity with regard 
to resignations. Sometimes resignations 
occur; not so frequently perhaps as con- 
stituents would Hke, but then they do oc- 
cur. Naturally the public are interested to 
observe how his brethren deal with that one 
of their number who voluntarily surrenders 
his seat, salary, and perquisites. They 
never stop him. 

'^ Then again, while on the lookout for 
topics, surely something might be written 
about the " Files of the House." This is a 
title pervaded, I fancy, with a kind of down- 
cellar flavor. It brings a whifif from re- 
mote, dark, and secret corners. It whispers 
of romances buried and hopes scattered ; at 
least, it would, if we only had time to open 
it up. 

* " Clearing the galleries " is still another 
theme upon which much might be said to 
divert the reader. The Senate of the Unit- 
ed States holds secret sessions ; or sessions 
called secret. Can it be possible that well- 
dressed ladies and gentlemen, in this boast- 
ed land of liberty, in a building owned by 
the tax-payers, and over which the star- 
spangled banner is proudly floated, are told 
in cold, official language that they may not 
remain upstairs upon these occasions? 

* The reader will perceive that this valiant 
little work need not here come to an end 



i 



262 THE GAVEL AND THE MACE 

for lack of topics to talk about. But the 
object we have all along kept in view has, 
we hope, been in the main 'accomplished. 
That object was to awaken curiosity, and 
to impart to the reader some interest in the 
underlying principles of parliamentary 
practice. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



ADJOURNMENT, mo- 
/\ tion for, origin of, 
^■% 130; popular, 130; 

JL JL second, when cannot 
be made, 131; how worded, 
ib.; must be put immedi- 
ately, 132; cannot be recon- 
sidered, ib.; fixing the hour 
for, seasonably, 133; differ- 
ence between, and recess, 
ib,; of both houses, 134; 
one house without consent 
of the other, ib.; effect of, 
on business pending, 135; 
on new and unfinished 
business, ib.; final, healthy 
effect of, 136; what hap- 
pens on, ib. 

Aliens not wanted on legis- 
lative ticket, 25 

Amendment, 111-120; not so 
easy as imagined, iii; 
striking out enacting 
clause, 112; caution about 
moving, 113; order of ac- 
tion on, 115; preamble, 
what, 114; may be amend- 
ed, 113; process stops 
there, ib. ; when pending, 
116; three ways of amend- 
ing motion, ib. ; changing 
the shape, 117; useful pow- 
er, 118; motion to, cannot 
be postponed, 119; under 
color of, ib.; proposition 



when amended cannot be 
withdrawn by maker, 120 

Appeal from ruling of chair, 
157 

Arrest, legislator's freedom 
from, 144 

Assault, 139; challenge to 
duel, 140; violent and 
threatening language, ib. 

B 

"DAR of the House, offend- 
ers brought to, 64 

Bills, numerous, 42; who 
drafts them, 43; how pre- 
sented, 40; responsibility 
for, 41; shipwrecked, 98, 99; 
defeated by postponement, 
96; pigeonholed, loi; fate 
hangs on reference to com- 
mittee, 106; must have en- 
acting clause, 112; with- 
drawal of, 163; private, 
hope as to, 254 

Blanks, filling requires mo- 
tion, 123 



CALENDAR, 252-54; its 
uses, 253; private, ib. 

Chair (see Speaker), tempo- 
rary occupant of, 21 

Chairman of committee, 235; 
his son, 237 



265 



266 



Index 



Chaplain, what he is for, 57; I 
members do not trouble | 
him much, 217 

Clerk, important personage, 
55; his various duties, 56; 
deputy, ib. 

Committees, standing and 
select, 106; origin of, 105; 
standing, must be prompt- 
ly named, ZZ) speaker 
appoints, 232, 233; cannot 
please everybody, 233; im- 
portance of, 106; when 
two may take a bill, what 
is done, 107; what they do 
with a bill, ib.; minority 
report of, 108; limited 
powers of, 109; sub-com- 
mittee, 239; committees do 
most of the work of legis- 
lation, 231; have great 
power, ib. ; some not need- 
ed, 232; rooms of, how 
furnished, 234; chairman 
of, 235; clerk of, ib.; son 
comes in handy, 237; ses- 
sions of, ib. ; morning work 
of, 238; exclude the public, 
ib. ; behavior in, 239; dis- 
orderly conduct in, 240; 
witness before, ib. ; quorum 
of, 241; of the whole, 242; 
of conference, 248 ' 

Committee of the Whole 
House, mace removed, 
242; appropriations first 
considered in, 243; quorum 
in, ib. ; rules as to speaking 
in, 244; rules of procedure 
in, ib. ; disorderly conduct 
in, 245; powers of chair- 



man of, ib.; regular order 
in, 246; remedy in, when 
tired of listening, ib. 

Conference committee, 248- 
51; how constituted, 249; 
powers of, ib. ; report of, al- 
ways in order, ib.; cannot 
be amended or laid on 
table, 250; last ditch, ib. 

Congress, bird's-eye view of, 
149; noise and clatter in, 
149, 150; its publications, 
36; adjournment of, 134; 
last night of session of, 
137; hats, umbrellas, etc., 
in, 172; smoking forbid- 
den, ib.; quick work in, 
213; filibustering, 224; wit 
and humor in, 244 

Congressmen, know how to 
shake hands, 75; one thing 
they cannot do, 80; trials 
of, 146; privileges of Con- 
gressional Cemetery, 147 

Contempt, 255-58; Parlia- 
ment, powers of, 255, 256; 
Congress, powers of, 256- 
58; punishment for, 257; 
newspaper offenders, 258 



rjAY, legislative, at times 
very long, 133 

Debate, 167-96; what it is, 
167; tiresome talk, 168; 
time extended, 169; presid- 
ing officer takes no part in, 
169, 170; etiquette in, 171- 
yy, time of talking, 177; 
five minutes, 192; behavior 



in, i8i; personalities not 
allowed. i8i, 182; must be 
relevant, 189; random, 190; 
interruptions, 193; where 
to stand, 194; getting 
through and sitting down, 
195; the electric wire, 198; 
talking for Buncombe, 200; 
recognition before speak- 
ing, 171-76 

Decorum, members must at- 
tend to. 62; breach of. how 
treated, 63; apologizing 
for, ib. ; administering rep- 
rimand for, ib. 

Definitions, importance of, 
IS 

Delegate, territorial, what he 
can do, 25; what cannot 
do, ib. 

Division, how to ascertain 
whether proposition can be 
divided, 121; right to, not 
privilege of member, 122; 
purpose of, 207; tellers, 
207, 209 

Doorkeeper, plenty to do, 
58, 59; must be vigilant, 
59; frowns on suspicious 
characters, ib. 

E 

ENROLLED bills, 259 
Epithets, opprobrious, not 
wanted, 76 

Etiquette, in debate, 171, 173; 
in committee, 240 

Expulsion, concurrence of 
two-thirds of House re- 
quired for, 64; how a man 



Index 267 



feels when expelled, ib.; 
not always personal dis- 
qualification, 65 



piLEofthe House, 261 

Filibustering, Speaker 
Reed, 224; Oklahoma case, 
223; arithmetic of, 223, 224 

Floor, who gets it when 
many \yant it, 43; custom 
of Parliament, 44; how to 
get, 69; member rises in 
seat, 69; yielding for ex- 
planation, 175, 176 

Franking, 144, 199, 200 



QAVEL, good thing to 
have, 51; plenty of work 
for, 150 

H 

XJORSE driven into text 
by way of illustration, 84 
Human nature, something 
about, 13 



TDIOTS excused from leg- 
islative duty, 25 

Information, right to ask for, 
81; don't always get, ib. ; 
right of member to, 161, 
162; practice in former 
days. 161; printing makes 
a difference now, 162 



268 



Index 



7 

JOURNALIST, active and 
J needful, 6i; gets into 

trouble sometimes, 258 
Jury, legislator need not 

serve on, 145 



T AYING on table, loi, 
103; motion for, not 
debatable, ib.; cannot be 
amended, 118 

Legislators, amenities, 62; 
mind open to change, 79; 
must study hard, 83; need 
a practised eye, ib.; also 
tact, ib. ; what they have to 
grapple with, 87; not in- 
fallible, 79; must not be 
obstinate, 84; starting for 
home, 136; his writing and 
spelling, 68; plenty of men 
willing to be, 82 

Lunatics stand aside, 25 

M 

li/rACE, how constructed 
and what for, 52 

Machine, wicked character 
of, deplored, 21 

Majority, responsibilities and 
annoyances, 38, 48 

Man, curious propensity of, 
II; likes to be a delegate, 
12; and make himself con- 
spicuous, ib. ; office doesn't 
seek the, 82 

Members, prompt to assem- 



ble at beginning of session, 
26; roll of, 27; credentials 
of, ib. ; House judges as to 
qualifications of its own, 
ib. ; particular as to whom 
they associate with, 28; 
quality of, 196; bribing and 
shooting, 140; vilification 
of, 142; franking privilege 
of, 146; entitled to infor- 
mation, 162; their speeches, 
178; listening to, a privi- 
lege, 194 

Message, executive, 33; what 
is done with it, 34; from 
one house to another, 50; 
veto, 260 

Mileage, interesting topic, 
260 

Minority, noise they make, 
38, 49; report by, 108; vir- 
tuous, 220 

Minors not allowed to dab- 
ble in legislative business, 

Motion, defined, 66; any 
member can make, 67; 
principal must be reduced 
to writing, 68; to amend, 
must be in writing, ib. ; 
must be seconded, 70; sec- 
onding no longer required 
in Congress, ib. ; subsidiary 
may not be applied one to 
the other, 88; exceptions, 
ib. ; congressional rule 
about, 89; precedence of, 
ib. ; once started, who con- 
trols it, 78; withdrawing, 
ib. ; to strike out and in- 
sert, -divisible, 128; indi- 



Index 



269 



visible, ib. ; dilatory, gen- 
esis of, 228 

A^ 

'M'AME, chair does not call 
■"■ member by his, 71 
Newspaper in contempt, 258 

o 

QATH of office, how ad- 

^^ ministered, 28 

Offences against dignity of 
Assembly, 64 

Office, nominations to, how 
fixed up, 16; seeking the 
man does what, 82; will- 
ingness to accept, ib.; what 
a man who doesn't get, 
consoles himself with, 83 

Order, meeting brought to, 
18; what happens to those 
who don't come to, 19; 
question of privilege, 154; 
breach of, 155; decision as 
to, 156; open to debate, ib.; 
regular, 151 

Order of the day, 148-53; mo- 
tion to proceed with, 153 



PARLIAMENT a court, 

House of Lords, 44; how 
prorogued, 133; excite- 
ment in, 144; habits of 
early, 134; candles for, 135 
Parliamentary law, rudi- 
ments of, ought to be 



known, 22; not at all gal- 
lant, 25; whence derived, 
35; literature of, 36; writers 
on, some of us named, 34 

Paupers get no show as 
Senators or Representa- 
tives, 25 

Personal assault, 139; duel, 
140 

Personal explanation, 141 

Personal privilege, 138-47; 
of sacred importance, 138; 
how availed of, 141 

Personalities, legislators may 
not call each other by 
name, 62; forbidden, 181, 
182; why, 184; words re- 
duced to writing, 187; must 
be immediately objected 
to, ib.; back track to be 
taken, 189 

Petitions, a moss - grown 
relic, 'J2; a sacred right, ib. ; 
a little history about, ib. ; 
what Grey has to say as 
to, yy, not particular in 
United States as to how 
gotten up, ib.; strict rules 
about, in England, ib. ; bet- 
ter be neatly written, with- 
out erasure, 74; if of sev- 
eral pages, each should be 
signed, ib. ; may be signed 
by mark, ib.; how its lan- 
guage starts out, y^; spon- 
sor of, TJ; member -who 
offers, had better read, y^; 
how introduced, JJ; pri- 
vate petition in Congress, 
ib.; what becomes of them, 
ib. ; how the clerk handles 



270 



Index 



it, 78; tucked away in com- 
mittee-room, ib. 

Postmaster, good deal of a 
man, 58 

Postponement, 96-100; may 
be indefinite or to a day 
certain; motion for, when 
debatable, 97; motion for, 
how made, 100 

Presiding officer (see Speak- 
er), the chair, how ad- 
dressed, 45; must be 
prompt, 154, 156; does not 
debate, 169, 170; the chair 
vivified, 203 

Previous question, just the 
thing, 90; of modern inven- 
tion, ib.; started in Eng- 
land, ib.; effect of nega- 
tive decision for, in Eng- 
land, 91; early history in 
America, ib. ; neat arrange- 
ment in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, Washington, 
92; efifect of affirmative 
vote on, ib.; of negative 
vote on, 93; dignity of, 
ib. ; cloture, ib. ; Senate of 
United States without, 94; 
cannot be amended, 118 

Printer, duties and proclivi- 
ties, 57 

Privilege, question of, may 
be raised at any time, 139; 
not necessarily disposed of 
on the spot, 144; open for 
debate, 145 

Privileged question, 129-37; 
four motions are, 129; 
when motion to adjourn 
becomes, 131 



Protest, what it amounts to, 

39 
Public meeting, right of 
Americans to attend, 14; 
how to find, 15; who does 
the deliberating at, ib.; 
how it starts, 17, 18; form 
of speech for opening, 19; 
officers of, how named, 21 

QUASI committee, 237 
Question, putting the, 
202, 209; voting viva voce, 
204; ayes and noes, 205 
(see Privileged Question) 
Quorum, 46-50; all present 
must be counted, 50; three 
enough in House of Lords, 
46; forty House of Com- 
mons, 47; often presumed 
to exist, 49; of committee, 
241; when less than, what 
to do, 42 

R 

T> ALLY, political, what 
goes on at, 17 

Reading papers, 160-62; in 
some States bill must be 
read three times; right of 
member to information, 
161, 162; practice in old 
times, 161; printing makes 
difference, 162; title, con- 
stitutional provisions re- 
garding, ib. 

Recess, what it is, 133 

Reconsideration, chance to 
correct errors, 227; restric- 



Index 



271 



tions, 228; motion has 
precedence, 229; must be 
quick about it, ib. 

Regular order, 151 

Report, minority, 108; from 
conference committee al- 
ways in order, 249; cannot 
be amended, ib.; or laid 
on table, ib. 

Reporters, official, 59; sten- 
ographic, ib. ; shorthand, 
wonderful feat of, 60; 
doesn't mind cyclone of 
words, ib.; imagination of, 
137 

Reporting, hard time of, in 
early days, 61; guilty of 
contempt, ib. 

Resignations, 261 

Resolutions, examples of, ^^', 
people like to have them 
drawn up, 23; how to get 
them in, ib.; have to be 
transmitted, 24 

Rules, suspension of, 163-66; 
unanimous consent, 164; 
is a happy state, 165; two- 
thirds vote necessary, ib. ; 
motion to, not debatable, 
166; cannot be amended, 
not laid on the table, not 
postponed, not reconsid- 
ered, ib. 

s 

C EATS, some learning 
about, 29; politics, posi- 
tion of seats with reference 
to, 30 

Secretary, what falls to his 
lot, 24 



Sergeant-at-arms, important 
personage, 56; better get 
out of his way, ib.; brings 
in delinquents, 243; clears 
galleries, 56, 261 

Session, opening, great af- 
fair, 26; secret, 261 

Ship of State, brought to 
anchor, 13 

Slander — slandering Con- 
gressman, 141, 142; news- 
paper attack on Congress- 
man, 141, 142; how met 
and disposed of, 143 

Speaker (see Presiding Offi- 
cer), how elected, 31; es- 
corted to chair, 32; first 
thing he does on being 
elected, ib.; his various 
duties, 51, 53; supposed to 
be posted in Parliamentary 
practice, 158; can take part 
in debate on appeal, ib.; 
ought to be resolute and 
energetic, 159; must be 
prompt, 189 

Speeches, escape from, 179; 
not everything, 197; silent 
man a power, 198; oratory 
still with us, ib.; talk 
comes cheap, 221 

Striking out and inserting, 
modifications of motion to 
strike out, 126 



'pALKERS, great, some- 
times get into Legis- 
lature, 71 
Talk, what happens in U. S. 



272 



Index 



Senate when a Senator 
gets a-going, 95; good 
thing to stop, ib. ; Senate 
good-natured about, 247 
Teller, count by, 207, 209 
Town meeting, what goes 
on at, 16 

u 

TT NANIMOUS consent, 
49; a word or two about, 
173, 174 



"y ETO, 259-60; pocket, 260; 
message, what may be 

done with it, ib. 
Vice-Presidents, attempt to 

explain their existence, 22 
Vote, different meanings of, 

Zd, 2,7', oi thanks, 253 
Voting, discussed, 215-19; 

casting vote, 219 

w 

WASHINGTON, cab and 
car facilities at, 75; 



what to do on arriving at, 
ib. ; sending in cards to 
members at Capitol, ib. 

Witness, before committee, 
240 

Witness in court, privilege 
of legislator, 145 

Woman, lovely, her progress 
into public meetings, 16; 
not fairly treated, 25 

Writing, Legislator must ac- 
custom himself to, 68; 
stationery furnished for, 
ib.; better spell correctly, 
69 



Y EAS and nays, constitu- 
■■■ tional requirement, 210; 
on call of, member must 
vote, 211, 216; excused 
when has direct interest, 
217; properly in the House, 
212; pairing, 213, 214; pre- 
siding officer need not vote 
except in case of tie, 218; 
casting vote, 219 
Young men, advice to, 88 



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